1.

0 INTRODUCTION
Recent earthquakes in which many concrete structures have been severely damaged or
collapsed, have indicated the need for evaluating the seismic adequacy of existing buildings.
About 60% of the land area of our country is susceptible to damaging levels of seismic hazard.
We cant avoid future earthquakes, but preparedness and safe building construction practices can
certainly reduce the extent of damage and loss. In order to strengthen and resist the buildings for
future earthquakes, some procedures have to be adopted. One of the procedures is the static
pushover analysis which is becoming a popular tool for seismic performance evaluation of
existing and new structures. In particular, the seismic rehabilitation of older concrete structures
in high seismicity areas is a matter of growing concern, since structures venerable to damage
must be identified and an acceptable level of safety must be determined. To make such
assessment, simplified linear-elastic methods are not adequate. Thus, the structural engineering
community has developed a new generation of design and seismic procedures that incorporate
performance based structures and are moving away from simplified linear elastic methods
towards a more nonlinear technique. The behavior of a multi-storey framed building during
strong earthquake motions depends on the distribution of mass, stiffness, and strength in both the
horizontal and vertical planes of the building. In multi-storied framed buildings, damage from
earthquake ground motion generally initiates at locations of structural weaknesses present in the
lateral load resisting frames. The existing building can become seismically deficient since
seismic design code requirements are constantly upgraded and advancement in engineering
knowledge. Further, Indian buildings built over past two decades are seismically deficient
because of lack of awareness regarding seismic behavior of structures. The widespread damage
especially to reinforced concrete buildings during Bhuj earthquake exposed the construction
practices being adopted in India, and generated a great demand for seismic evaluation and
retrofitting of existing building stocks. The minimum requirement for any method of analysis,
including pushover, is that it must be good enough for design.

Push-over Analysis
Pushover analysis is an analysis method in which the structure is subjected to
monotonically increasing lateral forces with an invariant height-wise distribution until a target
displacement is reached. Pushover analysis consists of a series of sequential elastic analyses,
superimposed to approximate a force-displacement curve of the overall structure. A two or three
dimensional model which includes bilinear or trilinear load-deformation diagrams of all lateral
force resisting elements is first created and gravity loads are applied initially. A predefined
lateral load pattern which is distributed along the building height is then applied. The lateral
forces are increased until some members yield. The structural model is modified to account for
the reduced stiffness of yielded members and lateral forces are again increased until additional
members yield. The process is continued until a control displacement at the top of building
reaches a certain level of deformation or structure becomes unstable. The roof displacement is
plotted with base shear to get the capacity curve [2].

FIG 1: Illustration of pushover Analysis [ATC 40]

The pushover analysis is very useful in estimating the following characteristics of a structure.

The capacity of the structure as represented by the base shear versus roof

displacement graph
Maximum rotation and ductility of critical members load.
The distribution of plastic hinges at the ultimate load
The distribution of damage in the structure, as expressed in the form of load damage

indices, at the ultimate load

Determination of the yield lateral resistance of the structure
Estimates of interstory drifts and its distribution along the height
Determination of force demands on members, such as axial force demands on

columns, moment demands on beam-column connections

As an alternative to the design based on linear analysis.

To assess the structural performance of existing or retrofitted buildings [2].

Capacity Spectrum
The building performance level can be determined by target displacement using the capacity
spectrum method (ATC 40). The capacity spectrum method allows for a graphical comparison
between the structure capacity and the seismic demand. The pushover curve represents the lateral
resisting capacity and the response spectrum curve represents the seismic demand. The capacity
spectrum method, which is described in Figure 1, is started by producing a force-displacement
curve that consider the inelastic condition. The result is then plotted to ADRS (Acceleration
Displacement Response Spectrum). The demand is also converted into ADRS format so that the
capacity curve and the demand curve are in the same format.[9]

FIG 2: Capacity spectrum method.

Nonlinear Plastic Hinges Properties :The building has to be modeled to carry out nonlinear static pushover analysis. This requires the development of
the force - deformation curve for the critical sections of beams, columns. The force deformation curves in flexure
were obtained from the reinforcement details and were assigned for all the beams and columns. The Nonlinear
properties of beams and columns have been evaluated using the section designer and have been assigned to the
computer model in SAP2000. The flexural default hinges (M3) and shear hinges (V2) were assigned to the beams
at two ends. The interacting (P-M2-M3) frame hinges type a coupled hinge property was also assigned for all the
columns at upper and lower ends .
SEISMIC PERFORAMNACE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDINGS

The seismic performance of buildings [8] is measured by the state of damage under a certain
level of seismic hazard. The state of damage is quantified by the drift of the roof and the
displacement of the structural elements. Initially, gravity push is carried out using force control
method. It is followed by lateral push with displacement control using SAP2000 [6, 10]. For carrying
out displacement based pushover analysis, target displacement need to be defined. Pushover
analysis gives an insight into the maximum base shear that the structure is capable of resisting. A
building performance level is a combination of the performance levels of the structure and the
nonstructural components. A performance level describes a limiting damage condition which may be
considered satisfactory for a given building with specific ground motion. The performances levels as
per FEMA [7, 9], ATC 40 [8] and vision 2000[11] are shown in table 1.

Fig.2 performance levels described by pushover curve [11]

Table I . Performance level of building

LEVEL

DESCRIPTION
Very light damage, no permanent

Operational

drift,

structure

retains

original

strength and stiffness, all systems

are normal.
Light damage, no permanent drift,
Immediate

structure retains original strength

Occupancy

and

stiffness,

elevator

can

be

restarted, Fire protection operable

Moderate damage, some permanent
Life Safety

drift, some residual strength and

stiffness left in all stories, damage to
partition, building may be beyond
economical repair.
Severe damage, large displacement,

Collapse

little residual stiffness and strength

Prevention

but loading bearing column and wall

function, building is near collapse

Performance level of a structure

The structural and non- structural components of the buildings together comprise the building performance. The
performance levels are the discrete damage states identified from a continuous spectrum of possible damage states.
The structural performance levels based on the roof drifts are as follows:
Five points labeled A, B, C, D and E are used to define the force deflection behavior of the hinge and these points
labeled as

The performance levels (IO, LS, and CP) of a structural element are represented in the load versus deformation
curve as shown below,
i)point A corresponds to unloaded condition.
ii) A to B Elastic state,
iii) Point B corresponds to the onset of yielding.
iv) Point C corresponds to the ultimate strength
v) C to D- between C and residual strength/Initial failure of member
vi) Point D corresponds to the residual strength
vii) D to E- between D and collapse
viii) Point E corresponds to the collapse.
These points are specified according to FEMA to
determine hinge rotation behaviour of RC members.
The points between B and C represent acceptance
criteria for the hinge, which is Immediate Occupancy
(IO), LS (Life Safety), and CP (Collapse Prevention)

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Seismic performance assessment of buildings

The seismic performance of buildings [5] is measured by the state of damage under a
certain level of seismic hazard. The state of damage is quantified by the drift of the roof and
the displacement of the structural elements. Initially, gravity push is carried out using force
control method. It is followed by lateral push with displacement control using SAP2000 [10].
For carrying out displacement based pushover analysis, target displacement need to be
defined. Pushover analysis gives an insight into the maximum base shear that the structure is
capable of resisting. A building performance level is a combination of the performance
levels of the structure and the non-structural components. A performance level describes a
limiting damage condition which may be considered satisfactory for a given building with
specific ground motion. The performances levels as per FEMA [11,12], ATC 40 [9].

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Purpose of Non-linear Static Push-over Analysis

The purpose of pushover analysis is to evaluate the expected performance of structural
systems
by estimating performance of a structural system by estimating its strength and deformation
demands in design earthquakes by means of static inelastic analysis, and comparing these
demands to available capacities at the performance levels of interest. The evaluation is based
on

an assessment of important performance parameters, including global drift, interstory drift,

inelastic element deformations (either absolute or normalized with respect to a yield value),
deformations between elements, and element connection forces (for elements and
connections
that cannot sustain inelastic deformations), The inelastic static pushover analysis can be
viewed
as a method for predicting seismic force and deformation demands, which accounts in an
approximate manner for the redistribution of internal forces that no longer can be resisted
within
the elastic range of structural behavior.
The

PUSHOVER ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

Pushover analysis can be performed as either force-controlled or displacement
controlled. It depends on the nature of the applied load to the structure and the behavior
expected from the structure. Force controlled is useful for gravity loading, and it is expected
by structure to be able to support the load. Displacement controlled procedure is useful when
specified drifts are sought, where the structure can be expected to become unstable or lose
strength or where the magnitude of the applied load is not known in advance. Some computer
programs like Seismostruct, DRAIN-2DX, SAP2000, ANSYS etc. are able to perform
pushover analysis and can model nonlinear behavior so as to obtain the capacity curve for
models of the structure.