RAPID/Collaborative Research: Investigation of Reinforced Concrete Buildings Damaged in the Magnitude 6.4 Southern Taiwan Earthquake of February 2016

The Magnitude- 6.4 Meinong Earthquake struck the Southern region of Taiwan in February 2016. The earthquake primarily resulted in building damage. The majority of these buildings had reinforced concrete frames as the primary lateral-load resisting system. The most common damage mechanism was a soft story resulting from shear and/or flexural-shear damage to the first-story columns. A study was undertaken to use these buildings to investigate the accuracy of the ASCE 41 Tier 1 evaluation procedure in determining the buildings as vulnerable to earthquake damage. The results were mixed with the primary shortcomings of the procedure being that (1) the shear strength of the columns is overestimated using the Tier 1, ASCE 41 and full ACI 318 shear expressions and (2) the minimum beam-to-column strength ratio of 1.2, which is used to indicate the likelihood of a soft-story mechanism, is too low.