In Bhutan, the Indian seismic codes are
referred for the design of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. These seismic
codes were revised in 2016 as a result of earthquakes that took place after
their publication. The frequent and recent earthquakes in and around the
Himalayan region have caused substantial damage to RC buildings necessitating
for study of seismic performance. This paper presents a comparative study on
the seismic performances of typical five-story RC residential buildings
designed with old and new Indian codes. Accordingly, two three-dimensional
models of a building designed with the old and new Indian codes are developed
using STERA_3D software. The seismic performances are evaluated using the
Capacity Spectrum Method (CSM) and non-linear Response History Analysis (RHA)
for three input ground motions. In addition, the structural damage estimates
given by damage indices are compared under scaled ground motions. Results show
that the building designed with the new Indian codes provide reduced structural
responses when compared to that designed with old Indian codes. Furthermore,
the assessment of the damage indices for the building designed using the new
codes shows that the building has more even damage dispersion over the floors
and prevents collapse-level structural damage under the considered maximum
scaled ground motion.
Keywords: RHA, CSM, Input Ground Motions, Damage Indices.