Seismic Performance Assessment and Strengthening of Gazimağusa Namık Kemal Lisesi

Many destructive earthquakes occurred in Cyprus. However, the potential seismic risk of the buildings in Cyprus is not known well since vulnerability is unknown. Especially in the Northern part of the Island building inventory has variation regarding seismic performance. On the other hand, in Northern Cyprus there are more than 150 school buildings with different ages. Most of these buildings have been constructed before the use of modern seismic codes. In other words, only gravity loads have been considered in the design of these school buildings. It is, therefore of paramount importance for us to identify seismic risk of buildings and especially school buildings. Other important point is the corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete, based on structure age and environmental causes, would easily decrease the service life of buildings. This could cause a disaster in case of an earthquake. The natural disasters could cause loss of human lives and increase the cost of repair of damaged buildings. In this thesis, Gazimağusa Namık Kemal Lisesi (GMNKL) was evaluated as a reference school building and possible remedial measures for the building were discussed. GMNKL building is reinforced concrete and it has been constructed in 1956. This research was performed in three parts. In the first part, visual inspection of GMNKL was performed and deteriorations observed and other factors influencing earthquake resistance were determined. In the second part, material strengths (concrete and steel) were determined by using destructive and non-destructive tests. Also, reinforcement details were determined. Following the data collection, linear elastic and nonlinear static analysis were performed to identify possible weaknesses of buildings. Finally, in the third part of the research possible rehabilitation techniques were recommended. In order to collect information several tests were performed on concrete and reinforcement of the building. Among these tests one of the test was the determination of corrosion potential and the results were used in the analysis. Analysis was based on FEMA 356, ATC-40 and Turkish Earthquake Code (2007). After analysis results of the existing building, the most suitable strengthening methods were selected to increase performance level of existing building. The strengthening methods used were column jacketing and shear wall construction. Applied strengthening methods were compared to each other based on the economic analysis and the seismic performance. The shear wall method was selected to be the best strengthening method based on criterias stated above. It is expected that this study will be a reference for studying school buildings in other regions of Cyprus