Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766

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Journal of Building Engineering

Nonlinear modeling of a damaged reinforced concrete building and design

improvement behavior
Leonardo M. Massone a, *, Eduardo Bedecarratz b, Fabián Rojas a, Mario Lafontaine b
a Department of Civil Engineering, University of Chile, Blanco Encalada, 2002, Santiago, Chile
b Rene Lagos Engineers, Magdalena 140 of, 2402, Santiago, Chile

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Nonlinear modeling is performed for a reinforced concrete building that presented flexural damage during the
Nonlinear model 2010 Chile earthquake. The focus of the analysis is the behavior of a wall on the first floor that presented local-
Shear wall ized damage; the wall is T-shaped, has a web length of 8 m, and a flange length reaching 18 m. An unconfined
Building
concrete model and a steel model incorporating buckling were considered, accounting for the poor detailing of
Earthquake
the wall boundary element. The walls were modeled using nonlinear fiber elements. A rigid diaphragm was con-
Damage
sidered, and the slabs were incorporated only in areas where they could generate coupling effects in the walls,
being modeled as beams with plastic hinges at their ends. Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses were performed
on the building model, utilizing records for Santiago from the 2010 Mw 8.8 earthquake. For relatively low lateral
drift values (~0.003), the strain levels observed in the model for the wall suffering damage would lead to flexural
damage due to its large size, large amount of longitudinal steel reinforcement in the flange, and poor detailing of
the web boundary. Several other nonlinear models were created to compare the impact of the design improve-
ments on the overall performance of the building. From the results, it can be seen that the observed damage
would be avoided by implementing design solutions such as increased wall thickness, confinement, or decou-
pling of the main wall.

1. Introduction
The most common structural systems used in mid-to high-rise resi-
dential buildings in Chile to resist the lateral forces produced by earth-
quakes are Reinforced Concrete (RC) Wall systems. These walls provide
the necessary stiffness and strength to withstand the loads produced by
strong ground motions accompanied by small lateral drift. Typically,
Chilean buildings are built with wall thicknesses around 20 cm, steel
ratio at the boundary of the wall (over the boundary area) of 5% on av-
erage for a boundary length of about 10% of the wall length [1], and a
density of walls (wall area in one direction divided by the total area of
the floor) in both directions of 2~4% [2]; this is also typically the case
for residential buildings with different numbers of stories. The struc-
tural walls are located in the interior and perimeter of the building for
the two principal directions of the building, since the walls are also
used to carry the vertical loads produced by the dead and live loads
over the buildings, generating a high level of axial load in the wall of
tall buildings at the ground level during earthquakes. Also, the Chilean
buildings present a coupling effect between the walls and the slab. This
is an important characteristic of Chilean buildings which is also com-
mon in buildings in some countries in Europe and Asia, providing rigid-
ity to the system, resulting in small lateral drift demands. In addition,
similar to other in Latin American countries, the design of RC walls in
Chile is based on the ACI 318 building code requirements [3], including
some modifications to adapt the design to the local practice. Although
the design of RC walls is relatively straight forward when following cur-
rent codes, including ACI 318, the behavior of RC walls under seismic
loads is very complex because the walls behave differently depending
on their configurations (wall size, cross-section geometry, wall height/
length ratio, steel reinforcement, boundary detailing, and wall open-
ings/discontinuities) and loading conditions, as was observed during
the 2010 Chile earthquake [4–12].
The 2010 Mw 8.8 earthquake in Chile provided a unique opportu-
nity to study the behavior of RC walls in buildings that were designed to
updated building codes and subjected to strong ground motions that re-
sulted in damage. The most common type of earthquake-related dam-

Corresponding author.
*

E-mail addresses: lmassone@ing.uchile.cl (L.M. Massone), ebedecarratz@renelagos.com (E. Bedecarratz), fabianrojas@uchile.cl (F. Rojas),
mlafontaine@renelagos.com (M. Lafontaine).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2021.102766
Received 29 October 2020; Received in revised form 13 May 2021; Accepted 19 May 2021
Available online 27 May 2021
2352-7102/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
L.M. Massone et al.
age to residential RC buildings (~20 stories) was generally observed at
the ground level of the walls with reduced length and T-shaped cross-
sections due to the high levels of axial load, flexion-compression ac-
tions, and no confinement in the boundary elements; this caused
spalling of the concrete cover, crushing of the concrete, and buckling
and fracture (in some cases) of the steel bars in the wall boundaries, as
reported in many studies [13–17]. To study this damage observed on
RC walls during the 2010 earthquake, some numerical studies of such
buildings using different models have been performed in recent years
[18–22]. These investigations were able to represent to some extent the
damage observed in the buildings.
In addition, the poor performance of some structures during the
earthquake highlighted the need to improve the design of RC wall sys-
tems in Chile. The changes in the design provisions have included es-
tablishing a maximum level of the axial load over the RC walls to
0.35f′cAg (f'cAg is the concrete wall section strength), requiring confine-
ment of the concrete of wall boundary elements if the compressive
strain is larger than 0.003, and limiting the maximum compressive
strain in the concrete to 0.008 [23]. However, existing studies of dam-
aged buildings have not evaluated the effect of incorporating these
changes in the analysis and have not utilized methodologies of Perfor-
mance-Based Design (PDB) to evaluate the design and behavior of these
buildings.
Performance-Based Design is a design methodology that enables the
estimation of reliable building seismic performance. This is achieved by
nonlinear modeling of the structural components as opposed to the typ-
ical linear models used in the prescriptive code design approaches. This
allows the generation of useful data for the seismic design of buildings
that are indirectly estimated in linear models, including the roof dis-
placements that the earthquake demands on the building, the curvature
demand on the walls (particularly on the plastic hinge zones), and the
actual concrete compressive and rebar tensile strains, which are vari-
ables that can be directly correlated with structural damage [11,22].
This information allows the structural engineer to limit the damage ex-
pected in the building (e.g., tensile/compressive strains), already de-
signed under earthquake loads, by the control of the level and type of
incursion of the nonlinear response and also to catch any undesired be-
havior (e.g., fragile failure such as shear failure), which is only possible
to evaluated under nonlinear-static and time-history analyses. An itera-
tive procedure might be required to comply with damage limits redefin-
ing the structural system or element dimensions. In prescriptive code
design, inelastic displacement values are estimated by multiplying the
Fig. 1. First level floor plan – (a) entire floor, (b) complete section of analysis of wall axis 7.
2
Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766
linear response by a factor that depends on the structural system, then
relating this to the curvature demand on the walls by expressions that
typically neglect the elastic displacement capacity; finally, the strains
on the critical sections are obtained by a sectional analysis. In PBD,
however, both the global lateral roof displacements of the building and
the local strain demands (and therefore the potential damage) on the
shear walls are directly obtained using a nonlinear model that captures
the inelastic response of the building for strong earthquakes. Therefore,
the PBD methodology is more appropriate for evaluating the impact of
the Chilean seismic code changes on the seismic performance.
One of the main PBD guidelines is the document published by the
LATBSDC [24]; this was used in this study as a reference for the nonlin-
ear building model (and not to seek its performance objectives). Models
of buildings using nonlinear elements to determine the failure mode ob-
served in the 2010 Chile earthquake are studied in this work. In addi-
tion to demonstrating the ability of commonly used nonlinear element
formulations to simulate the response of the building using static and
dynamic analysis, three alternative design solutions are analyzed to val-
idate the improvement in the building response.
2. Description of the building
2.1. General description
The focus of this study is a residential building located in the Ñuñoa
district of Santiago, Chile. Its structure incorporates RC walls, it has 23
total floors (2 of which are part of the basement), and has a total height
of 62.8 m from the foundation level and 59.4 m from the ground level.
It is founded on a dense gravel soil that, according to current Chilean
regulations, is classified as Type B or C soil (Vs30 ≥ 500 m/s for soil B
and Vs30 ≥ 350 m/s for soil C) [25]. A nearby measurement of Vs30 for
a different building provided an average value of 470 m/s, classifying
the soil type as C. The floor plan of the building is typical of classic
Chilean residential buildings—a high density of walls distributed
throughout the floor to separate apartments and rooms, with a series of
combined cross-sections, such as C-, T- and L-shapes, or even more com-
plex sections (Fig. 1). The second basement is set back with respect to
the first basement and the adjacent walls are staggered to reach the ap-
propriate level (Fig. 2).
The thickness of the walls is 20 cm in most areas. The perimeter
beams have a height of 70 cm and a width of 20 cm. The slabs are
16 cm thick in the typical floor, and 18 cm in the basement, with two
L.M. Massone et al. Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766

Fig. 2. First underground floor plan.

elevator openings of around 4 m by 2.7 m on each floor and stairs open- Table 1
ing of 3.3 m by 3.95 m on the typical floor and around 1.75 m by Design parameters.
3.95 m in the basement (Figs. 1 and 2). The height between floors is Parameter Description Direction Direction
2.5 m in the typical floor, 2.7 m in the first floor, 2.85 m in the first X Y
basement and 3.85 m in the second basement. The floor plan area of the
W [tonf] Seismic weight, defined as the sum of total dead 19,473
typical floor is 858 m2, with a wall area over floor area of 2.5% in both load and 25% of total live load.
directions. In addition, the building has a global slenderness ratio H/ Qe [tonf] Elastic base shear. 5250 4717
B = 59.4/22.05 = 2.7 (height over short plan width) measured from (27% W) (24% W)
the building basement. R* [−] Force modification factor according to NCh433. 8.5 8.9
Qe/R* Modified base shear. 617 532
[tonf] (3.1% (2.7%
2.2. Design W) W)
Qmin Minimum base shear according to NCh433. 974 (5% 974 (5%
The original design of the building was performed using a linear [tonf] W) W)
model and based on the application of the NCh433 [26] standard valid Qmax Maximum base shear according to NCh433. 2046 2046
[tonf] (10.5% (10.5%
before the year 2010. At that date, the design was oriented with a
W) W)
strength perspective, with little attention given to boundary wall detail- Qeff Effective base shear (controlled by minimum 974 (5% 974 (5%
ing. According to the design criteria, the building was based on a con- [tonf] shear). W) W)
crete compressive strength of 25 MPa for the first 14 levels, and 20 MPa R** [−] Effective force modification factor. 5.4 4.8
for the remaining levels. The yield stress of the reinforcing steel used Note: 50 modes were considered to achieve a total mass participation of 99.7%
was 420 MPa. A modal analysis procedure was performed for the force in Y direction, and 99.9% in X direction.
and moment determination. The design parameters summarized in
Table 1 include the elastic base shear (Qe), the force modification factor buildings in Chile were not required to have special boundary detailing
(R*), the minimum (Qmin) and maximum (Qmax) base shear, the effec- in walls due to the good performance observed in RC buildings during
tive shear (Qeff), the effective force modification factor (R**) and the the 1985 earthquake. The elevation geometry of the wall of axis 7 is
seismic weight. It can be seen that the shear force design corresponded quite regular, except for a setback at the second basement level.
to 5% of the seismic weight.
3. Nonlinear building model
2.3. Building damage
3.1. Element models in Perform 3D
Due to the 2010 earthquake, the building had serious flexural-axial
damage on a wall located on axis 7 of the first floor (Fig. 1). The wall The nonlinear building model is developed in Perform 3D [27] (Fig.
presents local damage with concrete cover spalling and buckling of its 5). In this work, the Shear Wall Element [27] is used for the modeling of
main longitudinal boundary and distributed vertical reinforcement due RC shear walls. This type of element is particularly useful for modeling
to the lack of proper detailing (Fig. 3). The damage zone propagates solid walls without irregular openings. The wall element is defined with
4 m inwards, measured from the tip of the wall web (Fig. 1 – ex- four nodes, each with six degrees of freedom (rotation and translation
treme + Y end of axis 7). This is the only severe damage to the build- in the three directions), and can be connected to other elements to gen-
ing. erate a three-dimensional wall system model. A nonlinear bending-
The reinforcement details of the damaged wall on the first floor are axial and a linear shear formulation in the longitudinal direction are in-
shown in Fig. 4. A large concentration of reinforcement can be seen in corporated in the element. In the transverse direction and out-of-plane
the wall flange, and the tip of the wall web does not present a confine- deformation of the element, its behavior is assumed to be linear. Bend-
ment detailing according to the current ACI 318 code [3], since older

3
L.M. Massone et al.
Fig. 3. Damage of the wall of axis 7.
Fig. 4. Reinforcement details of the wall of axis 7 on the first floor.
ing-axial behavior in the longitudinal axis (typically vertical) is charac-
terized by fibers. The sectional behavior is obtained by integrating the
individual behavior of each fiber (concrete and steel) assuming the
Bernoulli hypothesis, where the curvature along the element remains
constant. In addition, regarding the meshing of the elements, it is rec-
ommended to reduce the height of the wall elements at the base, so that
the plastic deformation can be concentrated in a suitable element size.
As recommended by FEMA 356 (2000) [28], the height of the element
in the plastic zone should be the lowest of (a) half the length of the wall
and (b) the story height. In this work, half of the story height was con-
sidered for a better discretization, which is equivalent to 1.25 m as
shown in Fig. 6. In general, there are no major discontinuities that need
to be considered, except for the wall setback observed at the basement
of the building to accommodate car parking space. In addition, experi-
mental and analytical work [5,7,29] have shown that such a disconti-
nuity causes strain concentration at the discontinuity that is well cap-
tured by fiber-type elements, such as the one used here for walls. It is
important to mention that this type of discontinuity or any type of clas-
sification or penalties due to vertical or plan irregularities are not in-
cluded or assessed or prohibited in the Chilean design code, as it is done
in other seismic design codes. It is common practice in Chile that struc-
4
Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766
tural engineers take all the necessary design precautions and considera-
tions for these irregularities to work correctly under earthquake ac-
tions, such as reviewing the force path with strut-and-tie models.
The beams are frame-type elements and are defined through two
nodes, each with six degrees of freedom. The beam consists of an elastic
section that covers the span of the beam, plastic hinges concentrated at
the ends of the section, and a rigid end zone. The plastic hinge has a
zero-length formulation and is defined through a moment-rotation
curve. For this work, a perfectly rigid-plastic response for the plastic
hinge was considered. A summary of the elements used is provided in
Table 2.
Nonlinear analysis can involve a large investment of computational
resources, often necessitating the analysis of simplified models without
a fine mesh or with irrelevant elements.
The main simplifications considered in the model are listed below:
● Non-refined meshing of shell elements: This reduces the analysis
time of the nonlinear model as there are fewer elements and it also
simplifies the fiber definition. The meshing of the wall of axis 7, in
particular, is presented in Fig. 6. For the first four stories (from the
2nd basement to the 2nd floor) a vertical mesh is proposed for a
L.M. Massone et al.
Fig. 5. Global view of the original model in Perform 3D – (a) general case, (b) first mode (torsional), (c) second mode (mostly translational in Y axis), (d) third mode
(mostly translational in X axis).
proper normal strain distribution, and the horizontal mesh is
conditioned by the intersections with other elements. Similar
criterion is applied to other walls, where in most cases, element
lengths vary from 1 m to 3 m.
● Removal of slab elements: In Perform 3D, slab elements do not
have nonlinear properties, and incorporating linear slabs would
cause exaggerated and unrealistic coupling effects. As an
alternative, beam elements are modeled between walls (not
crossing openings in slabs) to simulate coupling due to slabs. The
modeled beams have a height equivalent to the thickness of the
slab, and a width equivalent to 12 times the slab thickness [27].
These elements are arranged to enable wall-slab coupling in the X
and Y directions. The distribution of these elements in the floor
plan can be seen in Fig. 7.
● No stiffness reduction factors are included, given that all relevant
non-linearity is captured in beams (slabs) and wall elements in
flexure. Gravity loads can reduce the slab flexural stiffness, but the
effect of thin slabs in Chilean buildings is relatively small [4].
● The over-strength of concrete and steel is considered. In this case,
the yield strength of steel is increased to 1.17fy and concrete
strength to 1.3f′c [24].
● For the implicit dynamic analysis, Rayleigh's damping is
considered with a damping value of 2.5% on the first and third
vibration modes [24,30]. The building is loaded with the total dead
load plus the expected live load (25%) before the seismic action is
applied.
5
Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766
● Rigid diaphragm constraints are assigned at each level. This
assumption is reasonable, given the small slab openings due to the
staircase and elevators (4% of floor plan area) and the absence of
damage in the slab due to in-plane movement.
● Fixed-base restrictions are applied.
The three fundamental periods of the linear model in Perform 3D
are: 1.57 s, with a marked torsional response, 1.20 s, mostly transla-
tional in the most flexible direction (Y), and 1.11 s, also translational
but in the X-direction, as shown in Table 3. The mass participation of
the three modes is also reported in Table 3.
3.2. Material models
The concrete envelope curves were obtained from the models of
Saatcioglu and Razvi (1992) [31], considering in the confined case a
transversal boundary detailing reinforcement equivalent to stirrups
ϕ12 spaced at 100 mm, constituting a typical detailing, together with
over-strength of the material. The resulting curves, incorporated into
the model, are shown in Fig. 8.
The steel curve is initially defined based on the monotonic model by
Menengotto and Pinto (1973) [32]. However, since there is evidence of
buckling of the longitudinal reinforcement, the loss of strength due to
this phenomenon is incorporated. As shown in Fig. 3, the buckled rein-
forcing bars in the damaged wall are completely exposed due to con-
crete spalling. Buckling occurs when the bars are not properly re-
L.M. Massone et al. Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766

Fig. 7. Distribution of beams as a replacement for slab in the typical floor plan.

Table 3
Natural periods, vibration modes and participating mass ratios.
Modes Period Direction Participating Participating Participating
[s] Mass Ratio Mass Ratio Rotational Mass
in X in Y Ratio in Z

1 1.57 Torsional 0.04 0 0.58

Fig. 5(b)
2 1.20 Mostly 0 0.63 0
translational in
Y Fig. 5(c)
Fig. 6. Wall mesh on axis 7 in Perform 3D. 3 1.11 Mostly 0.59 0 0.02
translational in
Table 2 X Fig. 5(d)
Element properties.
Element Definition Non-Linear Behavior

Shear 4 nodes, Bending- axial

Wall 6 degrees behavior is obtained
Element of through fibers. Each
freedom wall element has
each several fibers
containing steel and
concrete area. The
sectional behavior is
obtained by
integrating the
behavior of each
individual fiber
following Bernoulli's
hypothesis.
Frame 2 nodes, Non-Linear behavior
Element 6 degrees is obtained by locating
of plastic hinges with
freedom zero length at the Fig. 8. Stress-strain curve for confined and unconfined concrete.
each ends of each frame
element. Plastic
hinges are defined
3.3. Base and improved-design models
through a Moment-
Rotation curve. To verify the actual performance of the building through a nonlinear
analysis, a so-called “original model” seeks to reproduce the actual con-
strained, causing their capacity to be reduced in compression. The ditions of the structure before the 2010 earthquake. However, compar-
cyclic response of a bare bar with an aspect ratio L/d = 20, similar to ing this first model with alternative structural design configurations is
the observed buckling length shown in Fig. 3, of a reinforcing steel of value because varying partial elements generates results which can
specimen obtained from an actual damaged building in Chile [33] is be used to improve the design. For the “original model”, all longitudinal
shown in Fig. 9. The reinforcing bars, with similar tensile strength reinforcement in walls with buckling behavior and concrete is consid-
(~490 MPa) to the bar considered in this work, reached slightly over ered unconfined. The “confined wall axis 7” model considers a formula-
200 MPa of strength in compression, which conditions the equilibrium tion in which the damaged wall was properly confined, such that the
of a wall section subjected to flexural moment and axial load, forcing an wall web thickness is increased from 20 cm to 30 cm and the boundary
increase in the compressed zone and an associated increase of the com- longitudinal reinforcement is restrained from buckling, together with a
pressive strains, accelerating the damage process. Thus, for the steel confined concrete associated to a special boundary detailing of the web
prone to buckle, a compressive strength of 200 MPa was considered, end. All other walls are considered not confined, but since prescriptive
which is slightly less than 50% of the yield strength of the non-buckling detailing is included in boundary elements with transversal reinforce-
steel (Fig. 10). Similar results of strength reductions in compression are ment spacing at 6db (db, longitudinal bar diameter), the reinforcement
obtained with a fiber model for bar buckling [34]. model is considered without buckling. In the “decoupled wall axis 7”

6
L.M. Massone et al. Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766

4. Analysis results

4.1. Original model

Firstly, it is important to understand the earthquake demand on

Fig. 9. Stress-strain response of a damaged bar with an aspect ratio of 20 [33].
buildings in the city of Santiago. For this, the displacement spectra of
different records of the 2010 earthquake in Santiago are plotted in Fig.
11(a), considering a damping of 2.5% [24]. The spectral records are ori-
ented in the same direction as the studied building. For comparison pur-
poses, the current design code displacement spectra [25] are also in-
cluded for soil type B and C. The acceleration spectra are included in
Fig. 11(b) for the current [25] and previous design code [26] used for
the design of the studied building. It is worth noting that D.S. 61 (cur-
rent design code) soil type B [25] is identical to NCh 433 soil type 2
[26]. According to Godoy et al. [35], all stations indicated in the figure
are classified as soil type C (Vs30 ≥ 350 m/s), except for Santiago
Downtown which is classified as soil type B (Vs30 ≥ 500 m/s). It can be
seen that for the building cracked period, assuming a 30% increase
from the uncracked period (1.2 s), giving a value of 1.6 s, for the trans-
lational mode (Y – direction with observed damage), the displacement
demand is between 10 and 22 cm. Considering a system of 23 stories,
rather than a single degree-of-freedom system, the expected lateral roof
displacement is about 30% larger than the spectral demand [36]; the
range translates into lateral roof displacements of 13 and 29 cm, or
drifts between 0.002 and 0.005. In the X-direction, the expected de-
mands for a cracked period of 1.4 s are smaller (~20 cm for the upper

Fig. 10. Stress-strain curve for buckling and non-buckling steel.

model, a section of the wall web is reduced to decrease the coupling be-
tween all wall segments. The removed section corresponds to a 3.3 m
long section that connects the web and flange of the wall, as shown in
Fig. 1 (in blue) and Fig. 6. The length of section (3.3 m) was selected to
effectively reduce the coupling of the wall cross-section, decreasing the
wall web by about 40%. In the model, it is assumed that special bound-
ary elements in walls are not required, such that all concrete is consid-
ered unconfined; similar to the “confined wall axis 7” case, however,
the reinforcement is considered without buckling, based on basic pre-
scriptive detailing. Finally, the “confined walls” model considers all
walls with special detailing, such that concrete is considered confined
at wall boundaries and the longitudinal reinforcement without buck-
ling. For comparison purposes, the wall thickness was not changed.
The models are all subjected to nonlinear static analysis (pushover);
the “original model” and “confined wall axis 7 model” are also sub-
jected to nonlinear dynamic analysis. All analyses consider P-Δ effects,
although the displacement demands are moderate. Despite the fact that
the principal natural vibration mode is marked torsional, the damage is
associated to flexure-axial behavior inducing large tensile-compressive
normal strains in wall boundaries, which are associated with transla-
tional modes. Thus, pushover analysis describing the translational
modes is considered to be adequate.

Fig. 11. Displacement and acceleration spectra – (a) displacement spectra, in-
cluding measured records in Santiago for the 2010 earthquake, (b) acceleration
spectra.

7
L.M. Massone et al.
bound in Fig. 11(a)) and damage is less likely, which is consistent with
the building behavior.
Lagos et al. [37] showed that the vast majority of buildings that pre-
sented damage in the 2010 earthquake were subjected to roof drifts
close to 0.01, and buildings subjected to roof drifts lower than 0.005
generally maintained operational performance. Therefore, this case
study would be outside the range for buildings with potential damage.
This leads to the question: why was the building damaged prematurely?
To attempt to answer this question, a nonlinear static analysis is car-
ried out for the “original model” case to evaluate the behavior of the
structure for the expected lateral displacement demands. The nonlinear
model, when subjected to a pushover in the +Y direction of the build-
ing, using its second modal form (translation in the Y direction) which
compresses the tip of the wall of axis 7 (as shown in Fig. 1), yields the
capacity curve of Fig. 12; the limit state of concrete compressive strain
of = -0.003 can be visualized in the figure for the point of the wall
of axis 7 and other walls of the building. As shown in Fig. 12, for a lat-
eral roof drift of 0.0025 (equivalent to 15 cm of roof displacement), the
wall of axis 7, on the first floor, is the first wall to reach the limit state of
concrete compression strain of = −0.003. This result is consistent
with the expected roof drift demand between 0.002 and 0.005 (Fig. 11)
and with the actual performance of the building during the earthquake
that presented damage in the unconfined wall boundary of axis 7.
To understand the cause of this premature failure, it is informative
to plot the deformation profile of the wall on the first floor with respect
to the Y-axis. Given that the wall of axis 7 is part of a relatively large
structural system (see Fig. 1) that controls the global behavior of the
Fig. 12. Normalized base shear versus lateral roof drift for the different models.
Fig. 13. Strain profile across the wall of axis 7 for the Original Model.
8
Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766
building system, the deformation profile is plotted for the entire sec-
tion. It can be seen in Fig. 13 that the entire wall of axis 7 (the last 8 m)
is in compression. Moreover, the complete section works almost as a
single unit (following the Bernoulli hypothesis) for small lateral drift
values, with a neutral axis located in the flange of the wall of axis 7, and
one end of the combined wall cross-section in tension (Fig. 1), while the
tip of the wall of axis 7 withstands the largest compressive strains. For a
roof drift of 0.003, the point of the wall of axis 7, on the first floor,
reaches a concrete compressive strain of about -0.006 (Fig. 13). The
compressive concrete strain exceeds the = −0.003 limit at over 3 m
measured from the top of the wall. Thus, based on the model results, for
a roof displacement of about 18 cm (within the expected values in San-
tiago in the 2010 earthquake), compression damage along 3 m mea-
sured from the top end is presented in the wall of axis 7. This result is
consistent with the actual damage along a length of 4 m measured from
its tip that was observed in the building.
As shown in Fig. 14, the strain distribution along the height of the
building at the tip of the cross-section of the wall of axis 7 together with
another six walls (depicted in Fig. 1) confirms that the damage due to
compressive strain is concentrated at the first floor, with maximum
damage observed on the wall of axis 7. The figure includes the strain
values at three drift levels, with the solid lines corresponding to the
strain at the +Y wall end and the dashed lines corresponding to the
strains at the -Y wall end. In Fig. 14(a), the building is pushed in the +Y
direction, whereas in Fig. 14(b), the building is pushed in the -Y direc-
tion. The damaged element of the wall of axis 7 has a height of 1.35 m,
with large compressions in the +Y end for the pushover of the building
L.M. Massone et al.
Fig. 14. Strain profile along the tip of the wall of axis 7 for the Original Model – (a) push in the +Y direction, (b) push in the -Y direction.
in the same direction. In the actual building, the damage was concen-
trated at a height close to 0.7 m. Therefore, having modeled the ele-
ments with a height of 1.35 m in the first levels, the plastic hinge would
distribute the damage over a larger height than was observed; thus, the
local strain values should be higher.
4.2. Improved-design models
As described previously, another three models are proposed to im-
prove the behavior of the building. The additional cases are:
● The “confined wall axis 7” model increases the wall web to 30 cm
and properly details the boundary (confined, without bar bucking).
All other walls have concrete that is considered not confined, but
longitudinal reinforcement is restrained to buckling.
● The “decoupled wall axis 7” model removes a section of the wall
web. All walls have concrete that is considered not confined, but
longitudinal reinforcement is restrained to buckling.
9
Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766
● The “confined walls” model considers all walls with special
boundary detailing (concrete is confined, and longitudinal
reinforcement without bucking).
The pushover results are shown in Fig. 12. It can be seen that, in all
alternative design cases, the change in the stiffness of the structure is in-
significant, except for the “decoupled wall axis 7” case; however, the
performance improves considerably. Other walls close to the wall of
axis 7 (Fig. 1) reach a compressive strain of = −0.003 at a similar
drift level as for the “original model” case, ranging from 0.0035 to
0.0045. Considering that damage in such walls was not observed in the
actual building and the “original model” anticipates reaching that limit
state at a slightly lower drift level, if the drift demand is maintained,
relevant damage should not be observed for the alternative design solu-
tions. On the other hand, the compressive strains in the wall of axis 7
are drastically reduced, notably improving the performance of the
structure. The limit state of the compressive strain of = −0.003 is
reached beyond a drift level of about 0.004 in all cases; however, given
L.M. Massone et al.
the additional ductility in the walls, global strength degradation of the
building is observed beyond that point. In the “confined wall axis 7”
case, the degradation of the overall building occurs at about 0.004 drift
given the inability of other walls to sustain larger drift levels due to
their limited ductility, which is larger than the value observed for the
“original” model (0.0025). The “decoupled wall axis 7” case with the
modification of the wall configuration produces a ductile response,
where the = −0.003 strain level is not observed for wall axis 7, and
the overall degradation of the building is reached above a 0.008 drift
level. Even though the response seems better than that of the other solu-
tions, the stiffness is largely reduced, which would induce a larger dis-
placement demand in the building system.
The strain profiles associated with the study cases are plotted in Fig.
15. An improvement in the strain profile can be observed in terms of the
maximum compressive strains for the “confined wall axis 7” model (Fig.
15(a)). For the “decoupled wall axis 7” model (Fig. 15(b)), a different
and convenient behavior is observed, with largely reduced compressive
strains in wall axis 7 at consistent drift levels (drift demands might be
larger). On the other hand, by confining all the walls of the building
(Fig. 15(c)), the overall performance of the structure also improves; the
improvement is less, however, than with the “confined wall axis 7” case
in which the wall web thickness is increased, reducing the axial stress in
the wall and further reducing the compressive strain in the wall bound-
ary.
4.3. Nonlinear dynamic analysis
The previous results have shown that the static nonlinear analysis
reproduced, with high fidelity, the observed damage presented in the
study building. It was also employed to evaluate the impact of design
changes on the building capacity curve.
To complement the analysis, the “original model” and the “confined
wall axis 7” model are subjected to a time-history dynamic analysis.
Fig. 15. Strain profile across the wall of axis 7 for - (a) “confined wall axis 7”, (b) “decoupled wall axis 7”, and (c) “confined walls”.
10
Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766
Two nonlinear dynamic analyses are carried out, using the records of
Maipú (representing the upper bound in terms of displacement de-
mands and with a soil site condition of Vs30 ~ 450 m/s, consistent with
the expected soil type C in the building, and located at around 16 km
from the building site) and Santiago Centro (representing the lower
bound in terms of displacement demands with a soil site condition of
Vs30 > 500 m/s, and located at around 5 km from the building site).
Each set of records were incorporated simultaneously into the model in
two orthogonal and consistent directions with the orientation of the ac-
celerometers and the orientation of the building.
In Figs. 16 and 17, the general results of the dynamic analyses are
plotted, including the acceleration signal records, the roof drift, and the
variation in the concrete strain at the tip of the wall of axis 7; the com-
pressive strain is also plotted at the tip of other walls (depicted in Fig. 1)
in the same direction (+Y) at the first floor, as shown in Fig. 1 in red. It
can be seen in Fig. 16(c) that the roof drift for the Santiago Centro
record reaches a maximum value of 0.002. On the other hand, in Fig. 16
(d), the wall of axis 7 experiences the highest levels of compressive
strain; however, the difference with respect to neighboring walls is min-
imal. Similar results for the Maipú records are presented for Fig. 17. In
Fig. 17(c), it is observed that the roof drift for the Maipú record reaches
a maximum value of 0.0035, which is larger than with the Santiago
Centro record, but smaller than the expected upper limit defined with
the spectral displacements. The differences might be associated with
the effect of nonlinear incursions of the building. On the other hand, in
Fig. 17(d), it can be seen that the wall of axis 7 reaches the highest lev-
els of compressive strain again; for this case, contrary to the case of San-
tiago Centro, the difference with respect to surrounding walls is signifi-
cant, due to the formation of the plastic hinge in the wall of axis 7. In
Fig. 17(e), the same results as in Fig. 17(d) can be seen, but for the “con-
fined wall axis 7” model; the strain values for the wall of axis 7 are
smaller compared to those obtained for the “original model”, highlight-
ing the relevance of the wall special detailing. The strain values for the
L.M. Massone et al.
Fig. 16. Time history analysis for Santiago Center record - (a) acceleration in the X-direction, (b) acceleration in the Y-direction, (c) lateral roof drift (Y-direction),
(d) strain at wall boundary for the original model, and (e) strain at wall boundary for the “confined wall axis 7” model.
other six walls are similar for both models. It is important to note that
for both models the roof drift demands are similar (Fig. 17(c)). The dif-
ferences observed in Fig. 17 between both models are not apparent in
Fig. 16 given the smaller demands.
In Fig. 18, the strain profiles associated with the points in time that
generate the largest compression and tension strain values in the tip of
the wall of axis 7 are presented. Both profiles are consistent with the ex-
pected strain magnitudes obtained from the nonlinear static analysis
(pushover) presented previously. Thus, for this case, the static nonlin-
ear analysis can be used to obtain displacement demands and strain dis-
tributions as an approximation of the dynamic behavior of the struc-
ture. Furthermore, the Maipú record better presents compressive strain
levels (<-0.003) consistent with the observed damage, which is also
consistent with the expected soil type classification for the building.
The concrete compression for the instant of maximum strain at the
tip of the wall of axis 7 and other six walls along the height of the build-
ing is shown in Fig. 19. The figure includes results for both records,
with the solid lines corresponding to the strain at the +Y wall cross-
section end and the dashed lines corresponding to the strains at the -Y
wall cross-section end. It can be seen that the level of compression at
the tip of the wall of axis 7 varies drastically from one record to an-
other, and presents the largest value among all wall elements for the
Maipú record. For the Maipú record, a plastic hinge in the wall of axis 7
is formed that reaches levels of compressive strains about 6 times
higher than the Santiago Centro record, reaching values larger than -
0.007. As mentioned previously, large compressive strains in wall
boundary elements with poor detailing result in concrete degradation
(unconfined) and bar degradation (buckling). The decrease in strength
requires an increase of the compressed area of the wall to maintain ax-
ial equilibrium, which in turn shifts the neutral axis away from the com-
pressive side, increasing the compressive strains and accelerating the
damage progress.
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Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766
Another common performance acceptance criterion is the maximum
inter-story drift, which is shown in Fig. 20 for the +Y direction for both
records, considering the absolute inter-story drift. It can be seen that
the inter-story drift generated by the Maipú record exceeds the 0.005
drift limit established by LATBSDC [24] for buildings with fragile non-
structural elements by about 10%.
In summary, the results obtained through the nonlinear dynamic
analysis for the records used show consistent performance between the
nonlinear static analysis and the observed damage.
5. Conclusions
In this work, a reinforced concrete building is studied, located in the
Ñuñoa district in Santiago, Chile, which presented damage due to flex-
ure and axial actions in one of its walls on the first floor (axis 7). None
of the walls of the building were designed with special boundary detail-
ing.
The building is modeled based on the expected properties of the
building, and a series of alternative design solutions were analyzed. The
main conclusions of the study are listed below:
• In the city of Santiago, Chile, according to Fig. 11, spectral
displacement demands of 10–22 cm could have been obtained for
the main translational period of the building, leading to
corresponding roof drifts of 0.002–0.005 for a 23-story building.
The records from Santiago Centro and Maipú represent the lower
and upper bound, respectively, and, therefore, were selected for the
dynamic analysis.
• According to the result of the nonlinear static analysis of the
“original model” shown in Fig. 12, it can be concluded that the
model adequately predicts the damage type and location present in
the building for the expected displacement demand. The first wall to
exceed the concrete compressive strain limit (unconfined) of
L.M. Massone et al. Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766

Fig. 17. Time history analysis for Maipú record - (a) acceleration in the X-direction, (b) acceleration in the Y-direction, (c) lateral roof drift (Y-direction), (d)
strain at wall boundary for the original model, and (e) strain at wall boundary for the “confined wall axis 7” model.

Fig. 18. Time history strain envelope across the wall of axis 7.

= −0.003 is the wall of axis 7 on the first floor; this was the wall
and the location of the observed damage. Moreover, the fibers of the
section within a length of 3 m measured from the tip of the wall of
axis 7 exceed the compressive strain limit, which is also consistent
with the actual progress of wall damage. Other walls reach the
compressive strain limit at a larger drift level.
• The results of the nonlinear dynamic analysis for the “original
model” also predict the damage observed in the building. They are
also consistent in terms of the roof displacement demands and strain
levels (for all walls) compared to the nonlinear static analysis
(pushover).
• Increasing the thickness of the wall of axis 7–30 cm and providing a
special detailing at the wall web end is shown to be a viable solution
to significantly improve the performance of the wall; however, other
walls require attention as they can also fail prematurely for small
incremental roof drift demands.
• Decoupling the long wall of axis 7 presents an improvement in the
local and global behavior of the building; however, this causes the
building to become more flexible, which might increase the non-
structural damage and the displacement demand.
• Providing special boundary detailing to all the walls of the building
considerably improves performance; however, the wall of axis 7

12
L.M. Massone et al. Journal of Building Engineering 41 (2021) 102766

Fig. 19. Time history strain envelope along the tip of the wall of axis 7 – (a) Santiago record, (b) Maipu record.

Acknowledgments

The National Agency for Research and Development (ANID) for the
Fondecyt Regular 2020 N° 1200023 has partially funded this work.

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CRediT authorship contribution statement
Leonardo M. Massone: Formal analysis, Supervision, Writing –
original draft. Eduardo Bedecarratz: Formal analysis, Created the
model that correctly captures the response. Did all the runs for the
analysis and provided the preliminary comparison of results. Fabián
Rojas: Provided feedback on the model formulation. Mario La-
fontaine: Help with the construction of the nonlinear model and pro-
vided information on the damaged structure.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
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