Juniper Publishers Journal Of Civil Engineering

 Civil Engineering Research Journal- Juniper Publishers Introduction Seismic performance of existing structures, which are non-seismically designed, has been a hot topic recently [1]. Low to moderate seismic region, such as Hong Kong and UK, has no seismic consideration traditionally, though strong wind design may be incorporated. In contrast to wind design, it is widely accepted that it is uneconomical to design a structure to withstand an earthquake elastically. The general principle is to provide sufficient ductility to dissipate earthquake energy. Plastic hinges are designed to form in potential plastic hinge regions in beams or columns. However, it is preferable to form plastic hinges in beams instead of columns as “story mechanism” (Figure 1) would normally induce larger inter-storey drift than that of “sway mechanism” (Figure 2) and leads to instability. The concept of “strong column – weak beam” is, thus, widely adopted. Go to Discussion The following discusses several aspe...