Comparative Analysis of Target Displacements in RC Buildings for 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes

The Kahramanmaraş (Türkiye) earthquake on 6 February 2023, one of the largest earthquakes of the century, caused the collapse or severe damage of thousands of structures. This catastrophic disaster resulted in over 53,000 fatalities and rendered many structures unusable. This study addresses the observed damage in reinforced concrete (RC) structures, which constituted the majority of the existing urban building stock. In this study, firstly, information about the destructive Kahramanmaraş earthquakes was given. The predicted PGAs in the last two earthquake hazard maps used in Türkiye were compared with the measured PGAs from actual earthquakes to determine whether the earthquake hazard is adequately represented for eleven affected provinces in the earthquake region. The damages in RC structures were evaluated within the scope of civil and earthquake engineering. Structural analyses for the model created to represent mid-rise RC buildings in the region were carried out separately for each province using predicted and measured PGAs. Additionally, target displacements that were used in performance-based earthquake engineering for damage prediction, were examined comparatively for all provinces. While the predicted earthquake hazard and targeted displacements were exceeded in some provinces, there was no exceedance in the other provinces. The realistic representation of earthquake hazards will allow the predicted displacements for various performance levels of structures to be determined in a much more realistic way. Consequently, the performance levels predicted for the structures will be assessed with greater accuracy. The study highlights the importance of accurately presenting earthquake hazards to predict building performance effectively.