Reliability-Based Seismic Evaluation of Existing Concrete Cores Using a Novel Approach: Concept and Application

This paper proposes a novel approach for the seismic evaluation of reinforced concrete shear walls in existing buildings. The approach builds on the well-known nonlinear time-history analysis and provides a probabilistic lens to assess the safety of existing cores based on the failure pattern and likelihood of occurrence. The proposed framework was implemented for a real-life application, and reliability indexes were determined for various failure scenarios of a concrete core in an existing building. The results suggest that for some failure scenarios, elements within the shear core that were not initially identified to form a shear failure may be part of the critical failure path of the wall and must be upgraded. Therefore, a comprehensive reliability analysis is important for making informed decisions regarding the repair and maintenance of existing structures subjected to seismic loading. The framework can also be applied to other structural elements to determine the load model for the reliability analysis.