Strengthening of buildings damaged at the earthquake

Turkish Earthquake Code was published in 06/03/2007 in the official gazette with reference number of 26454. Evaluation and strengthening (retrofitting) the existing structures were added to this new regulation as Chapter 7. The fundamentals of retrofitting the existing buildings in terms of their competence under possible earthquake forces are explained in this Chapter.In the regulation, the horizontal load-bearing systems are allowed to consist of only frames, only shear walls or combination of these two. When the energy consumption capacity of the framed systems with high ductility are considered, the R coefficient, which is behavioral factors coefficient, is selected to be higher than in the other systems.Various phases of retrofitting projects of several buildings located within the borders of the city of Gaziantep are presented in this study. The properties of the foundations, the current concrete strength and the condition of reinforcements were defined, for the structures damaged under the vertical loads. These data was employed in retrofitting projects. The problems encountered during the implementation of the projects are also studied here. In the process of retrofitting, in order the existing structures to be fully compliant with the 2007 regulations about earthquake-resistance of the structure, a system of ?foundation strengthening + column wrapping + adding extra shear walls? was performed to prevent the displacements and deformations which have taken place under vertical loads.