Evaluation of EC8 and TBEC design response spectra applied at a region in Turkey

Seismic performance analysis is one of the fundamental steps in the design of new or retrofitting buildings. In the seismic performance analysis, the adapted spectral acceleration curve for a given site mainly governs the seismic behavior of buildings. Since every soil site (class) has a different impact on the spectral accelerations of input motions, different spectral acceleration curves have to be involved for every soil class that the building is located on top of. Modern seismic design codes (e.g., Eurocode 8, EC8, or Turkish Building Earthquake Code, TBEC) provide design response spectra for all the soil classes to be used in the building design or retrofitting. This research aims to evaluate the EC8 and TBEC based design response spectra using the spectra of real earthquake input motions that occurred (and were recorded at only soil classes A, B and C, no recording is available at soil class D) in a specific area in Turkey. It also conducts response spectrum analyses of 5, 10 and 13 floor reinforced concrete building models under EC8, TBEC and actual spectral response curves. The results indicate that the EC8 and especially TBEC given design response spectra cannot be able to represent the mean actual spectral acceleration curves at soil classes A, B and C. This is particularly observed at periods higher than 0.3 s, 0.42 s and 0.55 s for the TBEC design response spectra, 0.54 s, 0.65 s and 0.84 s for the EC8 design response spectra at soil classes A, B and C, respectively. This is also reflected to the shear forces of three building models, as actual spectral acceleration curves lead to the highest shear forces, followed by the shear forces obtained from EC8 and, then, the TBEC design response spectra.