Performance of Reinforced Concrete Buildings during the 1985 Chile Earthquake: Implications for the Design of Structural Walls

The 1985 Chile earthquake provided a rare opportunity to study the seismic response of buildings with reinforced concrete walls. More than 230 moderate-rise reinforced concrete buildings were located in the coastal city of Vin~a del Mar at the time of the earthquake. The majority of these buildings relied on structural walls to resist vertical and lateral loads. However, the walls did not have the reinforcement details required in current U.S. codes to ensure ductile response. A survey of damage following the earthquake indicated that most of these buildings sustained no structural damage. Analyses of the buildings indicated that the structural walls provided sufficient stiffness to limit the displacement response and the earthquake damage. The Vin~a del Mar building inventory is used to evaluate current building code provisions in the U.S. for structural walls. The excellent performance of the Chilean buildings during the 1985 earthquake suggests that requirements for boundary elements in walls may be relaxed if sufficient wall area is provided.