Aftershock Mainshock

Many researchers have recently looked into seismic loss estimation for different structural
types. Porter and Kiremidjian developed an assembly-based vulnerability (ABV) framework
for probabilistic financial loss evaluation by calculating the summation of assembly level
component losses. Goulet et al. applied the PEER methodology to predict the seismic
performance, termed financial loss and collapse safety, of a reinforced concrete momentframe building, and the relevant sensitivity was investigated. Haselton et al. assessed the
performance of a four-story reinforced concrete office building and the performance was
quantified in terms of collapse safety, financial losses and fatalities, and different building
configurations were taken into account. Mitrani Reiser implemented the PEERs loss
assessment methodology using a MATLAB Damage and Loss Analysis (MDLA) toolbox to
estimate the economic losses of a reinforced-concrete moment-frame building.
The excessive permanent displacements were a consequence of concentrated structural
damage in the first story, with yielding noted at the base plate connections, and a number of
column fractures at the second floor moment connections. The extent of this damage was such
that the buildings owner decided to demolish the structure above the foundation level.
However, earthquake field reconnaissance reports after the 1994 Northridge earthquake
mentioned that other existing steel buildings could have experienced permanent lateral
deformations as a consequence of the strong mainshock that affected the Los Angeles area,
but they did not report that the following aftershocks could have increased the level of
damage, or even to drive damaged buildings to the risk of collapse. Therefore, there is a need
to further understand the effects of as-recorded mainshockaftershock seismic sequences in
the seismic response of existing structures.
This design procedure provides no verification of the compatibility between the isolated
member and the member as part of the whole structure. Nowadays, where the capabilities of
the structural modelling are much larger, an engineer can perform analyses which give
considerably better predictions of stresses, displacements, limit loads and mechanisms of the
damage. The second limitation of these codes is the exclusive adoption of the isolated and
rare design earthquake while the influence of repeated earthquake phenomena is ignored.
Despite the fact that the problem has been qualitatively acknowledged, very few studies have
been reported in the literature regarding the multiple earthquake phenomena. To be sure,
Amadio et al. examined the effect of repeated earthquake ground motions on the nonlinear
response of single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems. However, as the authors themselves
recognized, their work cannot be considered exhaustive since they examined only one natural
and two artificial ground motions.