Development of Retrofitting Technique for Seismically Vulnerable Open Ground Storey Reinforced Concrete Buildings

Retrofitting is a technique wherein the damaged structure is strengthened to original design requirements. During 2001 Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat, India many open ground storey building damaged. So there is an urgent need for retrofitting of damaged buildings. This calls for techniques that are technically sound and economically feasible to upgrade deficient and damaged buildings. Also, Portland cement (PC) production is under critical review due to high carbon dioxide gas released to the atmosphere and Portland cement is also one among the most energy-intensive construction materials. So retrofitting of existing deficient building using eco-friendly material which could promise higher structural performance than the original building is required. The main contributions is development of retrofitting technique of seismically damaged building using Geopolymer concrete and Chevron steel bracing with passive energy dissipation devices. Experimental studies are carried out using the 4 m × 4 m tri-axial shake table test facility to evaluate the seismic performance of bare frame, Open ground storey building, X-plate retrofitted building, Shear wall retrofitted building. Two three storied half scale model buildings, one open ground storey (OGS) building and a bare frame building are tested for different earthquake inputs in the shake table. The acceleration spectrum of IS1893:2002, soft soil is used as seismic input for the above tests. The failure modes and crack pattern of buildings after the seismic test are analysed. The damaged OGS building after the shake table test is retrofitted. The local retrofitting of columns and beam-column joints in the ground storey is carried out using Geopolymer concrete. The global retrofitting of building is formulated with Chevron type steel bracing incorporating X-plate damper in the ground storey. Sweep sine tests on OGS building before and after retrofitting with X-shaped metallic damper is carried out. The natural frequencies and mode shapes of the models are evaluated. The retrofitted OGS building is again subjected to shake table test to the study the seismic performance under varying amplitude as per IS 1893:2002 ground motion. The same model buildings are analysed in SAP 2000 to predict the seismic performance of the retrofitted RC frames.An innovative technique of retrofitting the seismic damaged building using Geopolymer concrete and construction of shear wall is explored. Two Reinforced Concrete shear walls are constructed inside the open ground storey building as global retrofitting technique. Sweep sine test is carried out after retrofitting with shear wall. The fundamental frequency of open ground storey building increased from 3.75 Hz to 7.25 Hz due to the addition of shear wall. The pushover test on building is carried out. The pushover analysis is carried out to study the seismic response of reinforced concrete building with local and global retrofitting using SAP 2000 software. Comparison of experimental and analytical push over curves is plotted. A significant improvement in the strength and stiffness of the open ground storey building after retrofitting with shear wall is observed.