Performance of RC frames in 26.11.2019. Albania earthquake: effects of irregularities and detailing

The collapse and damage of large number of buildings during the November 26, 2019 (Mw 6,4) Albania earthquake caused 51 fatalities and injuries to at least 910 people. Most of collapsed or heavily damaged buildings were RC frame buildings. Although RC frame system is considered as very ductile seismic force-resisting system, its behaviour during earthquake highly depends on: (1) regularity in plan and elevation, and (2) global and local ductility. Based on the authors’ visit to the earthquake-affected area on behalf of the Serbian Association of Earthquake Engineering and observations of collapsed and damaged buildings, it was concluded that among main reasons for underperformance of these flexible systems were inadequate analysis of interaction between infill walls and RC frames and reinforcement detailing of RC members.