Seismic Performance of Reinforced Concrete Buildings with Hollow Block Slabs and Flat Beams: Combined Effects of Shear Walls, Beam Depth Ratio and Column Type

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Çelebi O., Yalçın A.

Journal of Brilliant Engineering (BEN), cilt.7, sa.3, ss.1-16, 2026 (Hakemli Dergi)

Özet

In this study, the dynamic response and seismic performance of RC buildings with hollow block slab and flat beam system have been investigated. Six different building models with 10 stories have been designed to investigate the effect of factors such as the existence of shear walls, the ratio of b/d for beams, and the cross-sectional area of columns (square vs. rectangle). All of the buildings have been modeled in ETABS software according to the rules of Turkish Building Earthquake Code (TBEC-2018), using the seismic loads corresponding to Erzurum region and ZD soil type. The linear time history analysis has been conducted to study inter-story drift, acceleration amplification, frequency shifting, and comparative energy response characteristics. It has been observed that due to the flexibility nature of hollow blocks, a whiplash effect is created, causing up to ten times amplification of accelerations at the top stories. The use of square columns and shear walls has reduced the inter-story drift ratio about 25-30 percent and peak story acceleration about 15 percent. FFT analyses have revealed that square columns provided more stable and symmetric dynamic response characteristics within the investigated structural configurations. creating a stable mode shape in their dynamic response. Moreover, comparative energy response analyses (Ed/Ein) have shown that using square columns and shear walls can increase the damping factor by up to 5.42 percent. The results indicated that the combined use of square columns and shear walls improved the seismic response characteristics of the investigated structural systems.