A Critical Review of the R.C. Frame Existing Building Assessment Procedure According to Eurocode 8 and Italian Seismic Code

ABSTRACT In the European seismic countries the assessment of existing structures is a priority, since the majority of the building heritage was designed according to out-of-date or even no seismic codes. The uncertainties about the non-linear behavior of the structures are, therefore, relevant and the non-linear response should be treated directly, with corresponding strong increase in complexity of the assessment procedure. This issue was taken into account in this work; in particular, the assessment of two irregular reinforced concrete frame buildings was performed, according to both Italian Seismic Code and Eurocode 8 with the following aims: i) checking the consistency of the results obtained applying the two considered Codes; ii) identifying and clarifying the aspects which may lead to different possible interpretations of the code rules; iii) suggesting simplified approaches or improvements for the assessment procedure, concerning the evaluation of both seismic demand and capacity of the structural members.