Performance Assessment of Tilt-Up Big-Box Buildings Subjected to Extreme Hazards: Tornadoes and Earthquakes
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2017 American Society of Civil Engineers. This paper investigates the response of tilt-up (referred to as "big-box") buildings subjected to two extreme hazards to which they have been observed to be susceptible - high winds (tornadoes) and earthquakes - through a performance assessment methodology utilizing fragility analysis. The methodology focuses on load characterization, defining performance goals and corresponding limit states, and assessing performance through fragility analysis. Performance goals and limit states accounting for the performance of big-box buildings during past tornado and earthquake events in the United States are identified, as are research findings reported in the literature. The proposed methodology is applied to a set of four big-box buildings representative of the current building stock in the United States, i.e., building archetypes. The building archetypes incorporate concrete tilt-up wall panels and in-plane flexible roof diaphragms that vary in size, plan aspect ratios, and roof diaphragm connectors. The results of this study show that the building size (footprint) significantly affects the performance of big-box buildings subjected to tornado wind loads but the roof connector variability does not influence the building response, given that the roof joists failed before the roof decks connections. In contrast, the performance of big-box buildings subjected to earthquake loading is highly associated with the roof diaphragm connectors used in the design phase, which are the main source of inelasticity in the roof system.
