STEEL SHEAR PANELS AS RETROFITTING SYSTEM OF EXISTING MULTI-STORY RC BUILDINGS: CASE STUDIES

The seismic retrofitting of existing reinforced concrete buildings is currently a major economic and social activities for the redevelopment of congested urban areas. Innovative reversible technologies by metal devices are capable of protecting buildings from damage, providing high levels of structural safety. The current paper is framed within this context, where steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) as retrofitting system of multi-story residential RC buildings, designed for vertical loads and located in the historic center area of Torre del Greco (Naples, Italy), have been used. The vulnerability analysis performed on the inspected buildings have shown their inability to withstand seismic actions. Therefore, the retrofitting design of such buildings through partial bay and full bay SPSWs has been done. The retrofitted buildings behaviour has been assessed through numerical analysis carried out in the non-linear field. The achieved results have shown a significant improvement of the structural performance of the tested improved buildings in terms of strength and stiffness. As a further research development, the available information on the design of SPSWs for retrofitting existing RC buildings will allow to design useful design charts capable of providing the optimal plate geometric dimensions as a function of predetermined performance targets.