Seismic Design for

SMRF Structures
Metro Manila
Ortigas Complex, Pasig City
Observations:

– For any city, municipality or province, regardless

of the land area size and population, much of the
building structures are small to medium rise
buildings, that is, two to five storey buildings.
Cebu City
Davao City
Davao City
Cagayan de Oro City
Observations:

– Except for highly urbanized areas such as Legaspi

Village in the heart of Makati complex, Ortigas
complex of Pasig, about 90 percent are small to
medium rise buildings.
 Observations:
– For every Building Official/ City Engineer in every LGU office, evaluation of
the plans are not so much focused on the structural plans and details and
the corresponding structural calculations. This may be due to the fact that
there are other equally important components in the building documents
that needs to be evaluated.

– Line and grade

– Architectural
– Sanitary and Plumbing
– Electrical
– Mechanical
Observations:
– Every after an earthquake incident, it is always the high rise
structures that perform well with minimal or no damage at
all, while the small to medium rise buildings suffers the
most structural damage. This is usually due to much
diligence on the design was exerted by the designers of
high rise structures compared to low rise ones.
– This is due to the wrong notion that “smaller and shorter
buildings require less calculations and checking compared
to taller and bigger buildings”
What shall we do?

– Since the Philippines is married to high seismic

activities, it is expected that in the lifetime of all
structure, they would surely experience different
magnitudes of earthquakes and test its performance.
– We have to acknowledge that earthquake resistant
structures should be required for every building ,
whether big or small. No exception!!!
Why seismic detailing?
Structural members that should resist
earthquake forces

– Columns
– Beams
– Column –beam joint connection
– Foundation
Soft story at ground floor
Column-beam joint failure
Confinement failure on column
Shear failure on columns
Shear failure in columns
Weak column-beam joint
Beam shear failure before flexural failure
Insufficient confinement
Insufficient joint confinement
Common Types of
RC Building Systems
– Moment Frame Structures
– Ordinary Moment Resisting Frames
– Intermediate Moment Resisting Frames
– Special Moment Resisting Frames
– Bearing Wall Systems
– Ordinary concrete shear walls
– Special concrete shear walls
– Dual Systems
– Shear walls and moment frames
Observation:

– Almost all of the small to medium rise buildings

are made of moment resisting frames.
– Majority of these moment resisting frame
buildings are generally reinforced concrete
structures.
– RC design subjects are generally focused on
moment resisting frames as compared to other
building systems, yet with little emphasis on
seismic detailing.
How should buildings perform
during earthquakes?
– Buildings are intended to bend with moderate
moment and return to their former state. This is
called elasticity. Just like a rubber band, the
building should have no permanent change from
being stretched or bent lightly and temporarily.
How should buildings perform
during earthquakes?

– In order to survive a strong earthquake, the

opposite principle is true. A building constructed
properly should have permanent damage
following a major earthquake. The frame should
bend and absorb energy without falling.
How should buildings perform
during earthquakes?

– A frame built improperly will become brittle and

break during difficult conditions. Such was the
case in Northridge, California in 1994, when an
earthquake decimated buildings and spurred the
implementation of new moment frame
construction practices.
How should buildings perform
during earthquakes?

– The Federal Emergency Management Agency

(FEMA) has regulations in place to protect
structures from significant damage. They provide
the standards that buildings in high seismic
regions are intended to keep, including the
construction of moment frames. The frame
systems can be classified into three major types.
3 Types of Moment Frames

1. An ordinary moment resisting frame (OMRF) is

used in low-seismic areas and is expected to
remain elastic through regular conditions. They
do not have the rigid standards in place that a
moment frame used in a high seismic region
must. They are not intended to handle any
interstory drift, which means that the floors
should not shift relative to one another.
3 Types of Moment Frames

2. An intermediate moment resisting frame

(IMRF) is used in low to mid-seismic areas.
They are intended to withstand some
permanent damage following limited force.
They are required to sustain a moderate
interstory drift.
3 Types of Moment Frames

3. A special moment resisting frame (SMRF) is used

in mid- to high-seismic areas. They are intended
to withstand significant permanent damage
following high level forces. They must sustain a
high level of interstory drift.
What type of moment frame
shall we use in the Philippines?

– The Philippines is divided in to two seismic zones:

Zone 2 (Palawan and Sulu) and Zone 4 (the rest of
the country)
Philippines
seismic zone map

Zone 4

Zone 2
– The NSCP code states that for moment
frame buildings in Zone 4, only Special
Moment Resisting Frames (SMRF) are
permitted. Ordinary and Intermediate
Moment Frame (OMRF & IMRF) (Table
208-11A) are NOT PERMITTED in Zone 4
Why use SMRF, instead of
OMRF or IMRF?

– They are intended to withstand significant

permanent damage following high level forces.
They must sustain a high level of interstory drift.
– The building must not be brittle that the member
snaps and breaks suddenly during high ground
motion, but instead must be ductile.
Comparison of Brittle and Ductile
Building materials
– The correct building components need to
be made ductile. The failure of columns
can affect the stability of building, but
failure of a beam causes localized effect.
– Therefore, it is better to make beams to be
ductile weak links then columns. This
method of designing RC buildings is called
the strong-column weak-beam design
method.
Ductile behavior
Goals to ensure ductility of RC buildings

1. Achieve strong column-weak beam design

2. Avoid shear failure
3. Provide details that enable ductile flexural response in yielding
regions.
1. Design a Strong-Column/Weak beam
frame

Story mechanism Intermediate mechanism Beam mechanism

1. Design a Strong-Column/Weak beam frame
It is important to recognize that the columns in a given
story support the weight of the entire building above those
columns, whereas the beams only support the gravity loads
of the floor of which they form a part; therefore, failure of
a column is of greater consequence than failure of a beam.
Recognizing this behavior, building codes specify that
columns be stronger than the beams that frame into them.
This strong-column/weak-beam principle is fundamental to
achieving safe behavior of frames during strong earthquake
ground shaking.
2. Avoid Shear Failure

– Shear failure, especially in columns, is relatively brittle and can

lead to rapid loss of lateral strength and axial load-carrying
capacity.
– Column shear failure is the most frequently cited cause of
concrete building failure and collapse in earthquakes.
– Ductile response of the structure required that members yield
in flexure, and that shear failure is avoided. Shear failure can
be avoided using the capacity based design.
– Capacity Based Design: General Approach
– Identify the flexural yielding regions
– Design those regions for code-required moment strengths
– Calculate design shears based on equilibrium assuming the
flexural yielding regions develop probable moment
strengths.
– Probable moment strength is calculated from conventional
flexural theory considering the as-designed cross section
with no capacity reduction factor and assuming
reinforcement yield strength of at 1.25 fy.
2. Avoid Shear Failure
2. Avoid Shear Failure
3. Detail for Ductile Behavior
Ductile behavior of RC members is based on the following principles.
1. Confinement for heavily loaded sections
– Strain capacity of concrete can be increased 10-fold by confining concrete
with hoops.
– 135 deg hoops around the longitudinal reinforcement.
– Cross ties with 90 and 135 hooks holding the longitudinal reinforcements
Column section Column elevation
2. Detail for Ductile Behavior
Ductile behavior of RC members is based on the
following principles.
2. Ample shear reinforcements
Shear strength degrades in members subjected to
multiple inelastic deformation reversals,
especially if axial loads are low. In such members
ACI 318 requires that the contribution of concrete
to shear resistance be ignored, that is, Vc = 0.
Therefore, shear reinforcement is required to
resist the entire shear force.
3. Detail for Ductile Behavior
Ductile behavior of RC members is based on the
following principles.
3. Avoidance of anchorage or splice failure
Severe seismic loading can result in loss of concrete
cover, which will reduce development and lap-splice
strength of longitudinal reinforcement.

Lap splices, if used, must be located away from sections

of maximum moment (that is, away from ends of beams
and columns) and must have closed hoops to confine the
splice in the event of cover spalling.
SEISMIC REQUIREMENTS FOR BEAMS
Flexural Members shall satisfy the following:
(ACI 318-08 Section 21.3.1 or NSCP 421.5.1)

1. Clear span shall not be less than four (4) times

the effective depth.
2. The width-to-depth ratio , b/d, shall not be
less 0.3.
3. The width shall not be less than 250mm
4. The width, bs, of the supporting member plus
distances on each side of the supporting
member not exceeding ¾ of the depth of the
flexural member.
Longitudinal reinforcement requirements
(ACI code Section 21.3.2 / NSCP 421.5.1)

The positive moment strength at joint face

should be greater or equal ½ the negative
moment strength at the face of the joint

ϕMnL- ϕMnR-

ϕMnL+ ≥ 1/2 (ϕMnL- ) ϕMnR+ ≥ 1/2 (ϕMnR- )

Longitudinal reinforcement requirements
(ACI code Section 21.3.2 / NSCP 421.5.1)

Neither the negative nor the positive moment

strength in any section along the member should
be less than ¼ the maximum strength provided
at the face of either joint.

ϕMnL- max

ϕMany section ≥ 1/4 (ϕMnL- max )

Longitudinal reinforcement requirements
(ACI code Section 21.3.2 / NSCP 421.5.1)
Lap splices of flexural reinforcement are
permitted only if hoop reinforcement is provided
over the lap length.

Maximum spacing of transverse reinforcement

enclosing the lapped bars shall not exceed
100mm.
Longitudinal reinforcement requirements
(ACI code Section 21.3.2 / NSCP 421.5.1)

Lap splices shall not be used:

a. Within the joint.
b. With a distance of twice the member depth from
the face of the joint; and
c. At locations where analysis indicates flexural
yielding (ie. Location of plastic hinges)
Transverse reinforcement requirements
(ACI code Section 21.3.3 / NSCP 421.5.3)
1. For SMRF, plastic hinges will form at the ends of
flexural members. Those locations should be
specially detailed to ensure sufficient ductility.

Yield may occur

2h 2h 2h 2h
Transverse reinforcement requirements
(ACI code Section 21.3.3 / NSCP 421.5.3)
2. Spacing of hoops should not exceed the
following:
a. d/4
b. 8 x diameter of the smallest
longitudinal bars.
c. 24 x diameter of hoop bars.
d. 300 mm
First hoop shall be located not more than
50mm from face of support.
Transverse reinforcement requirements
(ACI code Section 21.3.3 / NSCP 421.5.3)
3. Where hoops are not required, stirrups with
seismic hooks shall be spaced at a distance not
more than d/2 throughout the length of the
member.
Special Detailing on Transverse Reinforcemen

Hoop spacing is
smallest of:
d/4 ; 8db ; 24 hoop db ;
300mm

hoops hoops hoops

50mm max 50mm max

50mm max
Spacing of stirrups ≤ d/2
2h 2h 2h
Special detailing requirement for transverse reinforcement
 Beam Detail With Seismic Provision
From STAAD

50mm max 50mm max

800mm 2900 800mm

S=90mm S=178mm S=90mm

4-20mm 2-20 mm 4-20mm

400
2-12mm 5-12mm 2-12mm

10mm hoops / stirrups

b b
5000

Hoop spacing is smallest of : d/4 ; 8db ; 24 hoop db ;

300mm and STAAD Pro
 Beam Detail With Seismic Provision
From STAAD

50mm max 50mm max

800mm 2900 800mm

S=90mm S=178mm S=90mm

4-20mm 2-20 mm 4-20mm

400
2-12mm
2-20mm 5-12mm
2-20mm 2-12mm
2-20mm

10mm hoops / stirrups

b b
5000

Bottom bars of 5-12mm < 2-20mm

Hoop spacing is smallest of : d/4 ; 8db ; 24 hoop db ;

300mm and STAAD Pro
Shear Capacity of Beams
SEISMIC DETAILING
FOR COLUMNS
SEISMIC REQUIREMENTS FOR
COLUMNS
1. Longitudinal Reinforcements
(NSCP2010 421.6.3.1)

• The reinforcement ratio g shall not be less

than 0.01 and shall not exceed 0.06.

pg= As/Ag
 Flexural Strength (NSCP2010 421.6.1)

Mnctop

Mnbleft Mnbright

Mncbot

(Mnctop + Mncbot) ≥ (6/5) (Mnbtop + Mnbbot)

sum of column moment capacity must be 20% higher

than the sum of the beam moment capacity
SEISMIC REQUIREMENTS FOR
COLUMNS
2. Limiting size of columns
(NSCP2010 421.6.1)

• The shortest cross-sectional dimension,

measured on a straight line passing through
the geometric centroid, shall not be less than
300mm. (Sec 421.6.1.1)
• The ratio of the shortest cross-sectional
dimension to the perpendicular dimension
shall not be less than 0.4.
(Sec 421.5.1.2)
SEISMIC REQUIREMENTS FOR
COLUMNS
3. Transverse reinforcement spacing
(NSCP2010, 421.6.4.3)
1. ¼ of the minimum member dimension.
2. Six times the diameter of the longitudinal bar, and
3. as defined by the given equation.
So = 100 + (350-hx)
3
where 100mm < So < 150mm
hx = spacing of additional cross ties or
overlapping hoops, which need not
exceed 350mm on centers.
SEISMIC REQUIREMENTS FOR
COLUMNS
3. Transverse reinforcement spacing
(NSCP2010, 421.6.4.3)
h

b/4
hx s≤
100+ (350- hx)
b
hx 3

where

hx hx hx 100mm<s<150mm”
SEISMIC REQUIREMENTS FOR
COLUMNS
3. Transverse reinforcement spacing
(NSCP2010, 421.6.4.1)

The transverse reinforcements shall be provided over a

length, lo, from each joint face . The length, lo, shall not
be less than the largest of:

1. The depth of the member at the joint face or where

the flexural yielding is likely to occur.
2. One-sixth of the clear span of the member
3. 450 mm.
SEISMIC REQUIREMENTS FOR
COLUMNS
3. Transverse reinforcement spacing
(NSCP2010, 421.6.4.1)

Where transverse reinforcements are not required

throughout the full length of the column, the hoops of the
remainder of the column length shall be spaced at the
smaller of :
a) 6 times the diameter of the longitudinal bars.
b) 150mm
COLUMNS WITH SEISMIC DETAILING
h

hx
b
hx
Larger of b or h S
1/6 lu
450mm hx hx hx
b/4
s≤
Clear height, lu 6 Ldb
100+ (350- hx) where 100<S<150
150 mm.
3

Note: without seismic provisions,

Larger of b or h S
1/6 lu
the hoops spacing are:
450mm a) 16Ldb
b) 48 hdb
c) minimum column
thickness
Not applicable to SMRF
Column Transverse reinforcement spacing requirements

Example:

400mmx400mm x 3m column
with 12-20mm main bars:

S1= h1/4 =400/4 =100mm

S1 = 6db =6(20) =120mm
S1 =100mm

S2= 6db =6(20) =120mm

S1 =150mm

Lo = h1 =400mm
Lo = lc/6 = 3000mm/6 = 500mm
Lo= 18In = 450mm
Column Transverse reinforcement spacing requirements
Hoop Configuration
Column hoops should be configured with at least three hoop
or crosstie legs restraining longitudinal bars along each face. A
single perimeter hoop without crossties, legally permitted by
ACI 318 for small column cross
sections, is discouraged because confinement
effectiveness is low.

Poorly improved Well

confined confinement confined
 50mm max

800mm
S=90mm
Lo = 450 300

4-20mm
400
2-20mm

Lo = 450 sr= 94mm of 10mm hoops

smax= 120mm of 10mm hoops

375 12-20mm

3 sets of 10mm hoops

375
Seismic Provision for Beam-Column Joints
Beam-Column Joint
Dimensions
Determination of Column Shear
Determination of Joint Shear
Joint Shear Strength
Beam- column
joint sample
Beam- column joint
sample
Beam- column joint
sample
 Thank you
for your kind attention