Seismic Reliability and Cost Analysis of Code Compliant RC Italian Frames

nowadays, many Codes develop a force-based design approach, which accounts for the inelastic capacity of structures by means of a reduction coefficient, i.e. behavior factor. At the same time, in earthquake engineering there is an ever-increasing interest on the evaluation of structural safety, through the so-called reliability analysis. Consequently, some studies analyzed failure probability of some code-conforming buildings and they pointed out that actual code’s provisions lead to a non-uniform structural safety level. For this reason, the first main objective of this study is to investigate extensively the failure rates of Italian code-conforming frame RC buildings, in order to establish how the rate of failure varies along the Italian territory. For this purpose, buildings with different number of floors, i.e. 3-6-9, with both levels of ductility (DCM-DCH) and in bare or infilled configuration have been studied, carrying on parametrically both the design and non-linear dynamic analyses in order to define frames vulnerability. Finally, a cost analysis has been carried out, in order to link structural safety with construction charge due to actual Codes provisions. In this way, it is possible to evaluate how different levels of ductility affects concrete and reinforcements steel quantity and if there is a clear trend between total cost and seismic hazard of design site.