Seismic collapse assessment of reinforced concrete moment frames using endurance time analysis

Summary In this paper, seismic collapse of reinforced concrete moment frames is assessed using endurance time (ET) analysis. A set of 30 frames that incorporate deterioration of concrete components is used for this assessment. Application of ET method for collapse assessment of structures is explained, and its accuracy for this purpose is evaluated by comparing its results with incremental dynamic analysis results. Input motions for ET analysis are generated based on ASCE7-05 design spectrum, and also accelerograms used for incremental dynamic analysis are spectrally matched to the same spectrum. Distribution of different engineering demand parameters over frames height and their values at collapse occurrence are compared for two methods. Results show that spectral accelerations in which collapse occurs in both analyses are very similar for most of the frames, and ET method can appropriately predict the collapse mechanisms of the structures especially for taller frames. Accuracy of ET method in collapse assessment of reinforced concrete moment frames is satisfactory, and this method can be used as a good estimator for study of collapse mechanisms with much less computational effort. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.