Seismic performance evaluation of rehabilitated RC columns using material testing integrated (MTI) simulation

Under various natural and man-made hazards such as aging or repeated loads, construction materials may experience severe degradation or marked variations in their properties. The seismic responses of structural systems can be dramatically affected by those changes in individual materials. In-depth understanding and accurate prediction of material responses are essential in evaluating the performance of the structural systems, however many material models in various analysis platforms often fail to describe complicated material responses or take into account the impact of a variety of conditions, especially for severely damaged/degraded materials or new materials whose behavior has not been sufficiently studied. In this study, a new simulation framework which incorporates material testing into analytical simulation, named material testing integrated (MTI) simulation, is newly developed with an aim to assess the seismic performance of structures based on reliable material behavior. In this study, the new concept of the simulation is demonstrated by performing MTI simulations for RC columns rehabilitated with Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) spirals and conventional steel spirals.