Effect of record scaling on the behavior of reinforced concrete core-wall buildings subjected to near-fault and far-fault earthquakes

Abstract

In this paper, two distinct record scaling methods, Spectrum-Matching (SM) and Amplitude Scaling (AS), were used to study the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete core-wall buildings subjected to Near-Fault (NF) and Far-Fault (FF) strong ground motions. First, the core-walls were designed based on seismic codes. Next, nonlinear fiber element models of the core-walls were prepared using the extended plastic hinge and the single-plastic hinge approaches. The SM and AS methods were used to obtain appropriate records for use in nonlinear time history analysis. Amplitude scaling procedure led to larger curvature ductility demand at the upper levels of the buildings, and this issue was more critical for the near-fault ground motions. On the other hand, SM procedure led to larger curvature ductility demand at the lower levels and less curvature ductility demand at the upper levels. The reason for this difference was the changes in the ground motion characteristics due to SM procedure. The changes in the ground motion characteristic were more severe for near-fault ground motions. For NF records, mean period of the SM records was 0.67 times that of the AS records, and shows that the frequency content of the SM-NF events was affected by SM process.