Assessment of damages in precast industrial buildings in the aftermath of Pazarcık and Elbistan Earthquakes

Abstract

Two major earthquakes with moment magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6 struck the districts of Pazarc & imath;k and Elbistan, causing thousands of deaths and severe damage. A lot of buildings located in 11 different cities were damaged or collapsed. In addition to urban areas, industrial regions were also affected and damaged by these earthquakes. In this study, the results of assessment studies performed in the industrial zones located in Malatya, Ad & imath;yaman, Kahramanmaras, Osmaniye, and Hatay cities are presented. The maximum seismic demands instrumented by the strong ground motion stations were first investigated. Then, the acceleration records obtained from the stations near the visited industrial zones were studied, and the spectral demands were compared to the code spectra. Obtained results have revealed that spectral acceleration and displacement demands are higher than that of design earthquake in many stations. Even in some stations, it was determined that the spectral demands, especially in the constant velocity region where the periods of precast industrial buildings are located, also exceeded the demand of the maximum earthquake of the code. After demand assessment studies, the structural properties of existing precast buildings are presented, and the reasons behind the damages are discussed. Site inspections have shown that connection failures are the most common type of damage observed. The overturning of roof girders and shear damage at corbels and beam ends are the typical forms of joint failures. Column flexural failures and other factors that cause the structural damage are discussed and explained. Non-structural damage was also determined in many buildings. Damage to suspended ceilings, facade cladding, products and equipment, and partition walls are the typical examples of non-structural damage observed. Reconnaissance studies have shown that the damaged building ratio in Kahramanmaras Turkoglu and Ad & imath;yaman Petrol industrial zones is significantly higher than in other regions visited. Damage distributions in Kahramanmaras Turkoglu and Ad & imath;yaman Petrol industrial zones, where comprehensive information was gathered, are presented and evaluated.