Repaired reinforced concrete wall buildings in Chile after 2010 Maule earthquake

Abstract

Post-earthquake decisions regarding the repair or demolition of buildings that have suffered significant damage during earthquakes are in general governed by multiple factors including technical, legal and financial aspects. As a result of the 1985 and 2010 Chile earthquakes most of the damaged reinforced concrete (RC) buildings were repaired, and only a few of them were demolished. A completely different outcome occurred in New Zealand after the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes, where most RC buildings located in central Christchurch have been demolished, affecting seriously the central business district of the city. This paper summarizes the observed damage and describes the adopted repair technique of three RC buildings damaged during the 2010 Chile earthquake. One of these buildings was a repaired structure following the previous 1985 earthquake. Additionally, the seismic index for 36 damaged buildings and the residual seismic capacity index of the three selected buildings are calculated following the Japanese standard for seismic evaluation of buildings. The 36 buildings were obtained from a previous research of buildings damaged after 2010 Chile earthquake. The results shows that the level of damage of the studied inventory was not correlated with the seismic index. A minimum residual seismic capacity index of 0.76 was estimated for the building damaged and repair after the 1985 earthquake, and as expected, a relationship between the repair cost and the seismic capacity index was observed. The provided information provide evidence of repaired buildings in Chile, which may contribute to the decision-making process of repair or demolishing buildings in future earthquakes.