Evaluating Multiobjective Outcomes for Hazard Resilience and Sustainability from Enhanced Building Seismic Design Decisions
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 8
Abstract
This study investigates the idea that green buildings should be designed to withstand higher extreme loads (loads associated with earthquakes or other hazards) to reduce the environmental impacts associated with posthazard repairs. This paper assesses the seismic performance and the associated environmental impact of 30 modern reinforced concrete buildings with varying lateral strengths and ductility capacities, considering the 4- and 12-story space and perimeter frames. The results show that the construction of stronger or more ductile (above-code) buildings requires higher upfront embodied carbon due to the larger structural members. The seismic performance was assessed probabilistically using nonlinear dynamic analysis and the seismic losses, both economic (in dollars) and environmental (in equivalent emissions), quantified for postearthquake damage. The findings suggest that the enhanced lateral strength lowers the postearthquake economic costs and the embodied carbon in comparison with weaker code-compliant or below-code designs. However, enhancing the ductility capacity does not reduce, and can increase, the seismic losses. For highly seismic regions, the enhanced lateral strength can significantly reduce the life-cycle embodied carbon losses enough to offset the higher upfront embodied carbon from constructing the larger structural members.
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Acknowledgments
This research is made possible through the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF), Grant No. 1234503. Any opinions, findings, and recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Haselton Baker Risk Group for providing access to the SP3 software, as well as the contributions of two anonymous reviewers. In addition, discussions with Wil Srubar III, Joseph Kasprzyk, and Sherri Cook were helpful in developing the ideas herein.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 8 • August 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 1, 2016
Accepted: Oct 12, 2017
Published online: May 30, 2018
Published in print: Aug 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Oct 30, 2018
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