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Simulation of the earthquake-induced collapse of a school building in Turkey in 2011 Van Earthquake

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Abstract

Collapses of school or dormitory buildings experienced in recent earthquakes raise the issue of safety as a major challenge for decision makers. A school building is ‘just another structure’ technically speaking, however, the consequences of a collapse in an earthquake could lead to social reactions in the complex aftermath of a seismic tremor more than any other type of structure may possibly cause. In this paper a school building that collapsed during 2011 Tabanli, Van Earthquake in eastern Turkey, is analysed in order to identify the possible reasons that led to collapse. Apart from the inherent deficiencies of RC buildings built in Turkey in the 80's and 90's, its structural design exhibits a strikingly high asymmetry. In the analyses conducted, much attention has been given to the direction of the earthquake load and its coincidence with the bi-axial structural response parameters. The failure of the structure to comply with the 1975 Code, in vigor at the time of construction, has also been evaluated with respect to the structure’s collapse. Among the parameters that controlled the collapse, the high plan asymmetry and the coincidence of the vulnerable directions with the dominant shaking direction were critical, as well as the underestimation of the seismic hazard and the lateral design force level, specified by the then Turkish Earthquake Code.

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Acknowledgments

The steel rebar tests were conducted in the material laboratory of Sakarya University under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Mustafa Kutanis. The structural drawings of the school buildings were found thanks to the immense help from Asst. Prof. Mustafa Kutanis from Sakarya Univ., Asst. Prof. Ercan Işık from Bitlis Eren Univ., and Fikret Kuran from Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü in Ankara. Their contribution is thankfully acknowledged. Efforts of several ITU members who assisted the damage assessment surveys in the aftermath of 2011 Van earthquakes are also appreciated. Names, coordinates and other data of the schools were extracted from the official website of the Turkish Ministry of Education (www.meb.gov.tr), but schools are referred by acronyms instead of their full names.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Management Institute, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

    İhsan Engin Bal

  2. Senso Engineering Ltd., ITU Teknopark, Istanbul, Turkey

    Eleni Smyrou

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  1. İhsan Engin Bal
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  2. Eleni Smyrou
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Correspondence to İhsan Engin Bal.

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Bal, İ.E., Smyrou, E. Simulation of the earthquake-induced collapse of a school building in Turkey in 2011 Van Earthquake. Bull Earthquake Eng 14, 3509–3528 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-016-0001-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-016-0001-x

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