Ageing-dependent seismic resilience and reliability of the RC wall-frame buildings under mainshock–aftershock sequences

Samanta, Nilanjan, Dasgupta, Kaustubh and Di-Sarno, Luigi (2026) Ageing-dependent seismic resilience and reliability of the RC wall-frame buildings under mainshock–aftershock sequences Structures, 85. p. 111123. ISSN 2352-0124, 2352-0124

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Abstract

Past earthquakes have demonstrated that structures already damaged in the mainshock can be more vulnerable when subjected to subsequent aftershocks. Numerous previous studies investigated the response of different structures subjected to mainshock–aftershock (MS–AS) ground motion (GM) sequences; however, research addressing the influence of sequential GMs on structures deteriorated by aggressive environmental conditions remains very limited. To investigate the post-earthquake functionality and collapse safety of the old ductile mid-rise (6–10-storey) Reinforced Concrete (RC) wall-frame building stocks, this study utilises a probabilistic framework for assessing ageing-dependent seismic resilience and reliability. In this study, ageing effects are represented solely through chloride-induced corrosion for the considered building typology. Building upon past studies, a reliable finite element (FE) model of a nine-storey regular RC wall-frame building is adopted, incorporating ageing-dependent degradation. In the current study, a spectral acceleration-based optimal Intensity Measure (IM) for the mid-rise RC wall-frame building subjected to ageing effects is proposed. Furthermore, the ageing-dependent fragility curves are developed to estimate exceedance probabilities for various Damage States (DSs) throughout the design life of the testbed building, considering different GM scenarios. Using the fragility curves at the Near Collapse (NC) damage state, the exposure-class-independent seismic reliability index is presented for the testbed building. Further, the key decision variables, namely functionality loss and recovery time, are evaluated to quantify the seismic resilience of the testbed building under different hazard levels. The results reveal that under the combined effect of ageing and MS–AS sequences, the seismic resilience and reliability of regular mid-rise RC wall-frame buildings decline significantly, raising concerns about collapse safety and post-earthquake functionality.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Chloride-induced corrosion, Ductile RC wall-frame building, Ageing-dependent fragility curves, Reliability index, Seismic resilience
Divisions:	Faculty of Science & Engineering Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Engineering Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Engineering > Civil and Environmental Engineering
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	06 Feb 2026 17:03
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2026 00:39
DOI:	10.1016/j.istruc.2026.111123
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3196899
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