EG30 P Verifying the Effectiveness of Retrofit Measures for Improving the Earthquake Resistance of Buildings through Large-Scale Testing and Dynamic Simulation

Recent earthquakes in the region have confirmed the pressing need to select effective strategies to improve the seismic performance of substandard buildings on a regional scale. While contemporary mitigation measures such as fiber-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) composites have taken significant strides in replacing traditional seismic performance enhancement approaches, previous studies mainly addressed the applications of this composite material to individual structural members. This study thus focuses on verifying the effectiveness of the FRCM retrofit material in upgrading a whole framing system using an enhanced retrofit strategy, large-scale testing, and dynamic response simulation. The proposed retrofit technique is intended to prevent the potential local failure of the composites through anchorage systems. Pre-test simulations (PTSs) are initially conducted through detailed fiber-based (FB) numerical models to predict the seismic response of framing systems representing pre-seismic code concrete structures before and after the FRCM retrofit. A large-scale specimen representing the framing systems is then tested under input ground motion with increasing intensity to evaluate the FRCM retrofit approach and verify the FB modeling approach. The results indicated that the adopted earthquake-risk mitigation measure reduced local and global damage indices by 70%, allowing its implementation to improve the seismic resilience of substandard buildings at a large scale.