RECENT PROJECTS

Assessment of existing RC structures

Many reinforced concrete structures around the world are facing increasing ageing and degradation. This, combined with the fact that traffic loads have been gradually increasing and design standards updated, results in a non-negligible probability of collapse and consequent necessity for reassessment of existing structures. IDEEA has been recently applied to analyze the residual capacity of such structures, and the potential improvement under different upgrading schemes.

Earthquake Engineering

On 16th of April 2016, a magnitude Mw=7.8 earthquake hit the west coast of Ecuador, causing more than 600 fatalities and the total collapse of several reinforced concrete structures. Most of the collapsed structures presented structural deficiencies such as soft-storys, lack of confinement and transverse reinforcement, frame-infill interaction, etc... Moreover, extensive corrosion was observed due to the proximity to the marine environment and insufficient concrete cover. IDEEA was applied to investigate the ductility and collapse mechanisms of these structures, and to quantify the impact of corrosion.

Seismic Performance Assessment of high-rise Buildings

Performance based design relies on predicting the building performance and relating it to the owners' and society's needs and resources. IDEEA is being extensively used as a high-fidelity predictive tool for structural assessment based on static and dynamic nonlinear analysis.

Fragility analysis

The probability of attaining or exceeding a certain limit state given the seismic intensity is quantified via fragility curves, which can be used for risk and loss estimation studies in seismic prone regions. The derivation of fragility curves is usually based on nonlinear analysis (either static or dynamic). IDEEA has been applied to perform such studies for several vulnerable RC structures.

Size effect in shear critical deep beams

The maximum shear stress in thick, shear-critical RC members decreases with the member depth, the so called size effect. Some recent tests have been performed at University of Toronto in order to study these effects. IDEEA was successfully applied in the modeling of a 4m thick slab strip without shear reinforcement in the right half span.

Blind prediction: RC frame with masonry infills

Dynamic shaking table tests were recently performed at University of Osijek on a nearly full scale 3-story RC frame with masonry infills. The structure was subjected to 10 ground motions of increasing intensity. An international blind prediction was opened asking for the horizontal displacement time-histories at each floor. Results submitted with IDEEA were ranked 2nd among 10 international participants.