Steel and reinforced concrete buildings are popular structural systems. The design of these buildings is regulated by deterministic building codes. In this context, it is established that if building codes are followed, the structure will resist demands without collapsing. However, no regulation is required to control the damage of structures in terms of performance criteria. In this paper, the seismic performance and structural reliability of both steel and reinforced concrete buildings, respectively, are analyzed as a benchmark case of study. Both buildings are designed in an earthquake-prone area for two soil types, respectively. Subsequently, nonlinear dynamic analyzes are conducted and the seismic responses of the models are determined in terms of inter-story drift. To obtain seismic responses, eleven characteristic ground motions of the region are selected corresponding to three performance levels: (1) immediate occupancy, (2) life safety, and (3) collapse prevention, respectively. It was documented that the resulting maximum inter-story drift was much lower than the one obtained from modal analysis. In addition, the risk was computed in terms of reliability index integrating a novel probabilistic approach with performance-based design criteria. According to the results, a small variation in the structural risk among the buildings under consideration is observed. However, buildings designed for rigid soil proved to be more reliable. Additionally, it is observed that the buildings designed with current regulations are too conservative based on the performance criteria limits. Hence, structures located on earthquake-prone areas may be overdesigned when implementing deterministic building codes.

After two major earthquakes centred in Kahramanmara & scedil; on February 6, 2023, in T & uuml;rkiye, there was significant destruction of the building stock. More than fifty thousand people lost their lives, and many people lost their comfort of life even though they were rescued from the wreckage. Researchers have emphasized that this catastrophic consequence is generally caused by design and production errors and low material quality in almost all building types, especially reinforced concrete, steel, masonry, and prefabricated structures. Within the scope of this study, damage patterns and the design flaws of reinforced concrete structures in Malatya, which is one of the provinces affected by the Kahramanmara & scedil; earthquakes, were examined via a field study. During the fieldwork, it was determined that inadequate longitudinal reinforcement and stirrup reinforcement, in-depth reinforcement, and concrete quality, design errors in the column-beam junction area, ignoring the structure-soil interactions, short columns, torsional irregularity, and soft stories were the main factors that led reinforced concrete buildings to be heavily damaged or collapse. After the root causes of damage to reinforced concrete structures were examined, the measures and applications that should be taken to ensure that reinforced concrete structures can maintain their services in the event of earthquakes that are likely to occur in the future was discussed.

This study evaluates the earthquake-induced movement of geogrid earth-retaining (GER) walls. A thorough investigation was conducted on a GER wall model, utilizing a comprehensive finite element (FE) analysis. This research focuses on investigating and designing hollow prefabricated concrete panels and conventional gravitytype stone masonry GER walls. It also displays comparative studies such as the displacement of the wall, deflection of the wall, lateral pressure of the wall, settlement of the backfill reinforcement, vertical pressure of the backfill, lateral pressure of the backfill, vertical settlement of the foundation, and settlements of soil layers across the height and acceleration of the walls of the GER walls. The FE simulations used a three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear dynamic FE model of full-scale GER walls. The seismic performance of models has also been examined in terms of wall height. It was found that the seismic motion significantly impacts the height of the GER walls. In addition, the validity of the proposed study model was assessed by comparing it to the conventional reinforcement concrete and gravity-type GRE wall and ASSHTO guidelines using finite element (FE) simulation results. Based on the findings, the hollow prefabricated concrete panels were the most practical alternative due to their lower deflection and displacement. Based on the observation, it was also found that the hollow prefabricated GER wall is the most viable option, as the settlement and lateral pressure in the former type are high.

Contemporary reinforced concrete structures suffer from the drawback of developing micro-cracks during their service due to causes related to shrinkage and fatigue. This may compromise their technical and functional serviceability due to the possible reduction in durability which may lead to a decrease in load carrying capacity of the structure. In recent years, experimental studies on biomineralization or biocementation have shown a potential to address this issue. Biocementation is the process in which microorganisms induce the production of calcium carbonate which can improve self-healing capabilities by filling the micro-cracks and pores in the structures, similar to the traditional lime-based materials. The most used pathway of biocementation is urea hydrolysis, which is brought about by the urease enzyme secreted by ureolytic bacteria. Although there have been numerous laboratory-scale studies that have yielded positive results, the widespread adoption of this technology in practical applications is still hindered by a range of constraints. The information about the solutions to resolve these limitations is fragmented and dispersed throughout the literature. This review aims to compile state-of-the-art knowledge in one place. This article provides a detailed assessment of the challenges in the application of biocementation and suggests strategies to overcome the obstacles that hinder its use in construction projects.