Reducción de la vulnerabilidad en estructuras esenciales y especiales de hormigón armado, situadas en zonas de alto peligro sísmico en el Ecuador

Abstract

Ecuador is a high seismic hazard country, because during the last 470 years, there have been numerous earthquakes that have devastated entire cities such as Ambato, Riobamba, Ibarra and others. As a result, there have been developed a large number of seismic hazard studies in order to reduce the risk in buildings. However the approach of the main structural lateral load resistant system has not been improved, since the frame system has been used in the majority of designs. That is why this document analyzes the influence of the masonry in the special and essential occupancy structures in order to reduce the vulnerability of the conventional structural system upon the occurrence of earthquakes. At first, the above mentioned structures are designed so that meets the NEC-SE design requirements. As a next step the masonry infill is incorporated to observe its influence. Finally, it is proposed a change of approach in the structural system to the dual system, through minimum percentages of shear walls, according to the type of occupation, so as to eliminate all kind of pathologies and negative effects attributed to masonry, to more than meet the performance requirements exposed in the standard.