Sensitivity analysis for seismic response of reinforced concrete staggered wall structures

This study investigates the sensitivity of design variables such as ultimate strength of concrete, yield stress of reinforcing steel and damping ratio to the seismic response of staggered wall structures. Two different methods for sensitivity analysis, the tornado diagram method and the first-order second-moment method, are applied to two types of model structures. Non-linear dynamic analyses are carried out using the seven maximum considered earthquake level earthquake records, which shows that the inter-storey drift is the most sensitive to the variation of modal damping ratio. It is observed in the incremental dynamic analyses that, when the earthquake intensity is relatively small, the yield stress of rebars and the concrete strength in the link beams are also important factors affecting the sensitivity of seismic response. As the intensity of seismic load increases, the strength of columns becomes another important factor.