Abstract:
This study pays attention to improving structural resilience to seismic occurrences
by seismic retrofitting with externally attached substructures. A comparison of
several bracing systems, including X, Chevron, V, Global, and mixed forward and
backward bracings, was performed and modelling was carried out on ETABS
software 2020 version. We also used Seism match software for spectral matching of
real time earthquake data with our designed spectrum.
Different earthquakes Imperial, Kobe, Kern, Northridge with RSN numbers 184,
1106, 12, 1044 and 1063 respectively were applied during the simulation. The study
found that Chevron, X, and Global bracings are the most effective at mitigating
seismic responses such as story displacement, story shear, base shear, and joint story
displacement relatively. The efficiency of the chosen bracing systems was further
evaluated through plastic hinge analysis under simulated seismic circumstances
utilizing historical earthquake data (Kobe, Imperial, Kern, Northridge) and matching
Record sequence number (RSN) values. The results demonstrated that the
application of these bracings significantly enhances the structural capacity of nonseismic code based designed buildings to prevent collapse and performing to fullest
in non-linearity stage, achieving the “Collapse Prevention” performance level and
reaching the “Immediate Occupancy” threshold as per hinge safety criteria.
Furthermore, the thesis investigated into the environmental sustainability of bracing
systems, suggesting that by incorporating bracings/substructures, it contributes
positively to sustainable practices and offers a proactive mindset to future seismic
risk mitigation. This study underlines the importance of retrofitting strategies in the
pursuit of safer and more resilient built environments and safer world.
