An investigation on vulnerability assessment of steel structures with thin steel shear wall through development of fragility curves

Fragility curves play an important role in damage assessment of buildings. Probability of damage induction to the structure against seismic events can be investigated upon generation of afore mentioned curves. In current research 360 time history analyses have been carried out on structures of 3, 10 and 20 story height and subsequently fragility curves have been adopted. The curves are developed based on two indices of inter story drifts and equivalent strip axial strains of the shear wall. Time history analysis is carried out in Perform 3d considering 10 far field seismograms and 10 near fields. Analysis of low height structures revealed that they are more vulnerable in accelerations lower than 0.8 g in near field earthquakes because of higher mode effects. Upon the generated fragility curves it was observed that middle and high structures have more acceptable performance and lower damage levels compared to low height structures in both near and far field seismic hazards.