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Study of Various Local and Global Seismic

Retrofitting Strategies - A Review
Jayshree Chandrakar Ajay Kumar Singh
PG Scholar, Asst. Professor,
Department of Civil Engineering Department of Civil Engineering
Shri Shankaracharya Group of Institutions (F.E.T.) Shri Shankaracharya Group of Institutions (F.E.T.)
Bhilai, India Bhilai, India

Abstract— Recent earthquakes, starting with the 1971 San different seismic intensities in terms of various responses such
Fernando Earthquake in California, left major destructions, as lateral displacements, story drift and base shear.
damaged the infrastructure, and raised questions about the
vulnerability and design practice of structures, especially Keeping in view the recent events of Nepal earthquake,
concrete structures. Design codes have being updated to include 2015 which is more commonly referred to as the Gorkha
seismic previsions but structures build before 1971 have to be earthquake, this thesis is aimed towards positing positive
retrofitted. The focus of this paper is reinforced concrete (RC) retrofitting measures that can be applicable to the Indian
structures. Surveys done after earthquakes have shown that the subcontinent. This earthquake claimed the life of nearly 9,000
major problem with concrete structures is columns. Other people and injured nearly 22,000. It occurred at 11:56 Nepal
critical structural elements include, but are not limited to, Standard Time on 25 April, 2015 with a magnitude of 7.8
gravity design frames, footings, shear walls, connections, and Richter scale and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of IX
beams. There are two major categories of retrofit options for (Violent). Its epicenter was east of Gorkha District at Barpak,
concrete structure; local and global methods. Local methods Gorkha, and its hypocenter was at a depth of approximately
focus at the element level on a particular member that is 8.2 km (5.1 mi). It was the worst natural disaster to strike
deficient and in improving it to perform better. Global methods Nepal since the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake. The ground
concentrate at the structure level and retrofit to obtain a better motion recorded in Kathmandu valley was of low frequency
overall behaviour of the entire structure. The different systems which, along with its occurrence at an hour where many
presented all have some advantages and disadvantages and the
people in rural areas were working outdoors, decreased the
option chosen for the retrofit depends on the existing structure
requirement. Finally a brief note is made on the development
loss of property and human life. The earthquake also triggered
and use of Hybrid intervention schemes. an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing 21, making April 25,
2015 the deadliest day on the mountain in history. The
Keywords—Seismic Retrofitting, Local and Global methods, earthquake triggered another huge avalanche in the Langtang
Hybrid intervention, Jacketing, Base isolation, Shear Wall, valley, where 250 people were reported missing. Hundreds of
Bracing thousands of people were made homeless with entire villages
flattened, across many districts of the country. Centuries-old
I. INTRODUCTION buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage Sites in
After earthquakes, surveys have analyzed damaged and the Kathmandu Valley, including some at the Kathmandu
collapsed structures to understand their failure mechanisms. Durbar Square, the Patan Durbar Square, the Bhaktapur
There are two major types of retrofit methods that can be Durbar Square, the Changu Narayan Temple, the Boudhanath
used. The first are local methods that focus on the member stupa and the Swayambhunath Stupa.
level. They include an analysis of the structure to find the
deficient elements and the retrofit of these elements. Local
retrofit methods include the addition of concrete, steel, and
composite. The second set of methods is a global approach
that retrofits the entire structure to improve its overall
behaviour. Those methods include addition of shear walls or
steel bracings, or the use of base isolation. The results of the
damage survey will be presented first. Then attention will be
given to the retrofit methods, their description and advantages,
as well as example of their application. The local methods will
be presented first followed by the global ones. Earthquake
causes different shaking intensities at different locations and
the damage induced in buildings at these locations is also
different. Thus, it is necessary to construct a structure which is
earthquake resistant at a particular level of intensity of
shaking, and assimilate the effect of earthquake. Even though Fig. 1 - Damage at Durbar Square, Kathmandu after Gorkha earthquake
same magnitudes of earthquakes are occurring due to its
varying intensity, it results into dissimilar damaging effects in The Indian subcontinent has a history of earthquakes. The
different regions. Hence, it is necessary to study variations in reason for the intensity and high frequency of earthquakes is
seismic behavior of multistoried RC framed building for the Indian plate driving into Asia at a rate of approximately 47

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mm/year. The following is a list of worldwide earthquakes for d.) Inadequate shear strength: Shear failure develops
the past 10 years. Only earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above principally in columns with a small height-to-depth ratio,
are included, unless they result in damage and/or casualties, or those are either columns that were designed to be short or
are notable for some other reason. All dates are listed longer columns that are partially restrained by non-structural
according to UTC time. Maximum intensities are indicated on elements over a portion of their height (captive columns). Pre-
the Mercalli intensity scale and are sourced from United States 1971 designs were based on elastic methods and used less
Geological Survey (USGS) ShakeMap data. Major events severe shear requirements. As a result, the shear strength in
took place in Ecuador, Italy, Taiwan and Indonesia this year, columns is often less than that needed to develop flexural
while the strongest tremor was observed in Papua New strength in the member. Shear failure are often brittle, they
Guinea. For the first time since 2008, no quake had a occur in the form of major diagonal cracking along the entire
magnitude of 8 or higher. length of the column, along with the yielding of the
longitudinal reinforcement.
Among these, various prominent earthquakes struck India.
Apart from the before mentioned Gorkha earthquake, Kashmir
earthquake of 7.6 Richter scale (8th August 2005), Gujarat
earthquake of 7.7 Richter scale (26th January 2001), Chamoli
earthquake of 6.8 Richter scale (29th March 1999), Jabalpur
earthquake of 5.8 Richter scale (22nd May 1997), Latur
earthquake of 6.2 Richter scale (30th September 1993) and
Uttarkashi earthquake of 6.8 Richter scale (20th October
1991) are the most destructive ones.
II. STRUCTURAL FAILURE DURING Fig. 2 - Columns failure during earthquakes
EARTHQUAKES 2.2 Reinforced Concrete Frame
2.1 Columns and Piers Practices for the design of frame structures in low to
The 1971 San Fernando earthquake left many structures moderate seismic regions have been to design the structures
damaged with columns and piers failures that often resulted in for gravity load only disregarding lateral loads. This creates
the collapse of the structure. Some of the major deficiencies in several deficiencies which are analyzed below.
both columns and piers are listed below.
a.) Weak column/strong beam behaviour: Columns are
a.) Inadequate flexural strength: Before 1971 lateral weaker than their joining beam. This creates a structure with
force coefficients were generally less than 10% resulting in potential failures in a soft-story or column sideway
high potential ductility demand. mechanisms.
b.) Inadequate flexural ductility: This type of failure b.) Columns deficiencies are similar to the one discussed
comes from a lack of confinement of the concrete core before.
followed by a failure in the plastic hinge region. This defect is
a major design flow and is directly linked to pre-1971 c.) Deficient Beam-column joints: They have little to no
practices which required, for transverse reinforcements of transverse shear reinforcement and the positive (bottom) beam
columns, No. 4 bars spaced 12 in (0.3m) on center. This was reinforcement is discontinued in the joints.
applied to every column regardless of geometry (circular or
A gravity design frame will exhibit low-lateral strength
rectangular) or dimensions. Also, the general practice was to
resistance. This allows for large deformations and large inter-
close the transverse reinforcements by lap-slice. This
story drifts during moderate earthquake. In larger earthquakes,
technique does not provide good anchorage for the rebar and
and because of the inadequate ductility of the columns, the
under pressure the bars deform and open up. More effective
frame will experience a brittle soft story or column sideway
techniques for closing rebar include welding or anchoring
mechanism [5].
(bending back into the concrete core). Those deficiencies limit
the ultimate curvature in the plastic hinge region of the
column to the strain at which the cover concrete starts
spalling.
c.) Undependable flexural capacity: Longitudinal lap-
slices were only designed for compression and are often
located near the ends of columns. It was found that during
earthquakes the longitudinal bars could also be subjected to
high tension and that the locations where their slices are
located are the same areas where plastic hinges will develop.
(Current practices have lap slice located in the central portion
of the column and designed as tension splice). Also, the length
of the lap slices were traditionally 20 bar diameters which is
insufficient to develop yield strength in the bars (especially
when larger diameter bars are used). All of those elements
lead to rapid reduction of flexural strength during cyclic
loading.
Fig. 3 - Soft story collapse in 1999 Kocaeli - Golcuk earthquake [2]

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2.3 Other structural elements  Selective weakening retrofit. This is a counter intuitive
There exists several other structural elements that have strategy to change the inelastic mechanism of the structure,
been observed to fail during earthquakes. Footings, shear while recognizing the inherent capacity of the structure [9].
walls, and coupling beams are just a few that might also
experience deficiencies. Often, their failures though damaging  Allowing sliding connections such as passageway bridges to
will not result in the immediate collapse of the entire accommodate additional movement between seismically
structure. independent structures.

a,) Footing failure: Many older footings were only  Addition of seismic friction dampers to brace weak
designed for gravity loads. As a result, they have several structures and provide damping.
deficiencies. First, they are often undersized and vulnerable to Seismic Retrofitting Techniques are required for concrete
overturning moments. Secondly, they do not have top constructions which are vulnerable to damage and failures by
reinforcements making them subjective to brittle failures. seismic forces. In the past thirty years. Moderate to severe
Thirdly, they are vulnerable to shear in both the footing and in earthquakes occurs around the world every year. Such events
the footing-column joint area. Finally, pile footing in older lead to damage to the concrete structures as well as failures. It
designs often did not have structural connections between the is the modification of existing structures to make them more
piles and the pile cap [6]. resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due
b,) Coupling beam and shear walls: Shear walls are to earthquakes. The retrofit techniques are also applicable for
most often damaged in shear and exhibit X-pattern cracks. other natural hazards such as tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and
Coupling beams can have inadequate capacity; particularly severe winds from thunderstorms. The biggest problem faced
shear capacity, which are insufficient to develop flexural by structural engineers is a lack of standards for retrofitting
yielding of the beam [7]. methods – Effectiveness of each methods varies a lot
depending upon parameters like type of structures, material
condition, amount of damage etc. These techniques can be
broadly classified as given below. Primary aim of
strengthening a structure is to increase its load bearing
capacity with respect to its previous condition. Only those
aspects related to flexure are discussed here. Established
techniques which have been in use successfully for a number
of years are recognized as follows:

Fig. 4 - Shear wall failure during earthquakes

III. SEISMIC RETROFITTING STRATEGIES

Seismic retrofit (or rehabilitation) strategies have been
developed in the past few decades following the introduction
of new seismic provisions and the availability of advanced
materials (e.g. fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP), fiber
reinforced concrete and high strength steel) [7]. Retrofit
strategies are different from retrofit techniques, where the
former is the basic approach to achieve an overall retrofit
performance objective, such as increasing strength, increasing
deformability, reducing deformation demands while the latter
is the technical methods to achieve that strategy, for example
FRP jacketing.
 Increasing the global capacity (strengthening). This is
typically done by the addition of cross braces or new
structural walls.
 Reduction of the seismic demand by means of
supplementary damping and/or use of base isolation Fig. 5 - Classification of various seismic retrofit strategies
systems [8].
 Increasing the local capacity of structural elements. This IV. LOCAL SEISMIC RETROFIT
strategy recognizes the inherent capacity within the existing 4.1 Concrete jacketing and Section Enlargement
structures, and therefore adopt a more cost-effective Section enlargement consists in placing additional
approach to selectively upgrade local capacity concrete around an existing structural element to increase its
(deformation/ductility, strength or stiffness) of individual seismic resistance. This is the oldest method of seismic
structural components. retrofitting. Typical applications include bridge deck, column

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wrapping, and join strengthening. This method is easy and quality control and inspections [10]. Finally, it should be
economically effective, but labor intensive. Adding traditional noted that with shotcrete, as with all modes of repairs,
concrete has been used as a means of retrofit for many years. attention must be given to the bond area and to the surface
It is used to reinforce columns either by themselves or in the preparation of the existing concrete.
context of retrofitting gravity designed frames. It can also be
used for other structural features such as foundation. It is used 4.3 Polymer concrete composite
mainly when strengthening is needed. As discussed earlier, Another development in the concrete field is the use of
columns are one of the structural elements that are often in polymer concrete (PC). PC are made from a polymer binder
need of retrofit in both buildings and bridges. This method has (usually a thermosetting polymer) mixed with a mineral filler;
been used for a number of years and was, for example, widely either sand (for mortar), or aggregates, gravel or crushed stone
applied after the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City. Numerous (for concrete). The material has several advantages such as
studies have been done in the past but this method has been high strength, low permeability, excellent resistance to
proven and research has moved on to other materials. One chemicals and abrasion, and good adhesive properties
example of such past studies was completed in 1994 by M. However, its disadvantages are cracking due to restrained
Rodriguez and R. Park [8] on 4 RC columns at a 7/8 scale. volume changes, poor resistance to ultra• violet light, creep
at high temperature, and additional cost.
Different detailing and different situation (pre-damage vs.
non damage) were tested and the results showed that the
retrofitted columns exhibited higher strength and stiffness as
well as higher durability and very good energy dissipation.
They also showed that neither the detailing, nor the original
state of the column, had much influence but that what was
important was good surface preparation. Another variation of
column retrofitting is to wrap the columns with a concrete
jacket with added longitudinal and transverse reinforcements
and in post-tension of the new longitudinal reinforcements.
Fig. 8 - Polymer composite application

It is uses in the resurfacing deteriorated structures and as a

compound in the repair of concrete structures [12]. Even
though it presents several advantages PC is more
expensive and does not solve the extensive labour issue of
using regular concrete.
4.4 Steel jacketing
Steel jacket can be used to retrofit both column and joints.
Fig. 6 - Column retrofitting by concrete jacketing [3] Column retrofit will be discussed first. After the 1971 San
4.2 Shotcrete Fernando Earthquake, reinforced columns were recognized as
A later development in section enlargement is a structural element that needed more attention. Retrofit of
shotcrete. It is a mortar or concrete pneumatically columns using steel jackets has been extensively studied in
projected at high velocities onto surfaces. It was introduced in the 1990's, mainly in the context of bridge columns. This
1911 and has been used in retrofit applications for over 50 research was primarily founded by CALTRAN (California
years. The invention of the shotcrete gun has been attributed Transportation Department). They have shown that this
to Carl E. Akeley and shotcrete comes in both wet and dry technique provides good overall behaviour with increase
mixed forms [9]. ductility, shear strength, and energy dissipation. This method
is now widely used in the United States and in Japan.

Fig. 7 - Application of shotcrete

Shotcrete's main advantage is it eases of application

especially in hard to access areas which result in a reduction
Fig. 9 - Steel jacketed column
of construction time and cost. It has a dense composition and
has low shrinkage and low permeability which gives it a good The principal behind this technique is that the steel jacket
durability. The main disadvantage of using shotcrete is that acts as a passive confinement reinforcement. The jacket will
special attention and procedure is required in order to achieve prevent the concrete from dilating, forcing it in lateral
a good quality product. These include placing thick sections compression and increasing its compressive strength, its
in layers, using of a blow-man to help reduce rebound (when effective ultimate compressive strain, and its ductility. For
the shotcrete hit a hard surface some of the larger aggregate circular columns, the method uses two semicircular half
tend to ricochet and gather in the same spot), and requiring sections that are field welded along the entire height of the

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jacket. A gap of about 1 inch (2.5 cm) is left between the V. GLOBAL SEISMIC RETROFIT
column and the jacket. It is filled with a cement-based grout 5.1 Addition of infill walls (shear walls)
that will ensure a good bonding and composite behaviour. Use Adding concrete walls by infilling certain frame bays with
of expensive grout instead of the cement base one does not reinforced concrete is popular for seismic retrofitting, but is
improve the performance. A gap of 2 inches (5 cm) is also covered by codes only if the connection of the old concrete to
left between the bottom of the columns and the top of the the new ensures monolithic behavior. To avoid penalizing the
footing to avoid possible bearing of the jacket on the footing foundation of the new wall with a very high moment
[17]. For rectangular columns the retrofit options are to either resistance, the new concrete should not be thicker than, or
use a rectangular jacket or a circular (or elliptical) jacket. In surround, the old frame members. A cost-effective connection
the case where a rectangular jacket is used the procedure is the of these members to a thin new web was proposed by Fardis et
same, and two L shaped panels are field welded together. For al, 2013, alongside a design procedure and detailing that
circular (or elliptical) jackets, the gaps created are larger conform to current codes. Owing to practical difficulties,
and should be filled with concrete instead of grout. It should footings of added walls are often small and weakly connected
also be noted that depending on the application conditions and to the other footings, hence they uplift and rock during the
failure mechanisms partial jacket or steel collar may be used. earthquake. Added concrete walls are very popular for seismic
4.5 Composites jacketing retrofitting of concrete buildings. A simple and cost-effective
Composites are new materials and research in the subject way of adding walls is to infill with reinforced concrete (RC)
is ongoing, especially for applications in the civil engineering selected bays of the existing frame, especially on the
field. Composites are non-isotropic and are made of a mixed perimeter. Although the method is widely applied, there are
between fibers and resin or epoxy. For every application, a still open issues about the retrofit design and certain aspects of
specific design and composition has to be calculated. This the seismic response of the retrofitted building.
is a complex process that requires the simultaneous
consideration of component geometry, production volume,
type of reinforcement, type of matrix, tooling, process, and
market economy. The most common composite used in civil
engineering applications are jackets or sheets.

Fig. 11 - Adding Shear Walls to existing structures

Addition of new RC walls is one of the most common

methods used for strengthening of existing structures. This
method is efficient in controlling global lateral drift, thus
reducing damage in frame members. During the design
Fig. 10 - Installing Prefabricated Fiberglass jacket [11] process, attention must be paid to the distribution of the walls
in plan and elevation (to achieve a regular building
When using composite the general expectations are light configuration), transfer of inertial forces to the walls through
weight, high stiffness or high strength to weight ratio, as well floor diaphragms, struts and collectors, integration and
as corrosion resistance, durability, low thermal expansion (at connection of the wall into the existing frame buildings and
least in the fiber direction), and low maintenance. They can be transfer of loads to the foundations. Added walls are typically
used in marine environments and are usually applied without designed and detailed as in new structures. To this end, in the
much disruption to the building or its occupants (often the plastic hinge zone at the base they are provided with boundary
structure does not have to be closed). The largest elements, well-confined and detailed for flexural ductility.
disadvantage is the high initial material cost. High strength They are also capacity designed in shear throughout their
high modulus fiber such as carbon can be very expensive height and overdesigned in flexure above the plastic hinge
(but that can be offseted by considering the durability/ no- region (with respect to the flexural strength in the plastic hinge
maintenance capacity). Also composite are hard to inspect. zone, not the shear strength anywhere), to ensure that
Simple eye inspections might not reveal defects underneath inelasticity or pre-emptive failure will not take place
the surface and complete inspections (with such methods elsewhere in the wall before plastic hinging at the base and
as X-ray) can prove to be costly. Finally, since that the new wall will remain elastic above the plastic hinge
composites are just now developing in the civil zone.
engineering field, there is a lack of design criteria and code
requirements such that structural engineers have to either rely
on the design services of the material supplier, or on
developing their own based on their research and experience.
It should be noted that throughout the world (Europe, USA,
Canada, and Japan) there are bodies that have been set up to
draw up guidelines and design rules to deal specifically with
the design of strengthening concrete structure using
composites.

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Development of a complete strategy guiding the retrofit

solution through established objectives or criteria is an
ongoing effort of the earthquake engineering research
community. In general, seismic rehabilitation may aim to
either recover or upgrade the original performance or reduce
the seismic response. In the first case, the retrofit schemes that
will be chosen have to reinstate the structural characteristics at
member level and have negligible impact on the global
response. The crack injection (epoxy resin injection or grout
injection) technique and the member replacement (substitute
Fig. 12 - Cast-in-place infill walls
part of the damaged member) may apply. When the seismic
demand is to be reduced, this can be achieved by adopting
5.2 Steel bracings base isolation techniques or by providing the structure with
Steel bracing can be a very effective method for global supplemental dissipation devices.
strengthening of buildings. Some of the advantages are the
ability to accommodate openings, the minimal added weight 5.3 Base isolation
to the structure and in the case of external steel systems Seismic isolation is mostly adopted for rehabilitation of
minimum disruption to the function of the building and its critical or essential facilities, buildings with expensive and
occupants. valuable contents and structures where performance well
above performance levels is required. Seismic isolation
system significantly reduces the seismic impact on the
building structure and assemblies. Generally, the isolation
devices are inserted at the bottom or at the top of he first floor
columns. Retrofitting mostly requires traditional intervention;
in the first case the addition of a floor in order to connect all
the columns above the isolators while in the second case the
strengthening of the first floor columns (enlarging of the
cross-sections, addition of reinforcing bars or construction of
new resistant elements). Nevertheless, inserting an isolator
within an existing column is not so simple because of the
necessity of cutting the element, temporarily supporting the
Fig. 13 - Building retrofitted using steel frames weight of the above structure, putting in place the isolators
and then giving back the load to the column, without causing
Alternative configurations of bracing systems may be used damages to persons and to structural and non-structural
in selected bays of a RC frame to provide a significant elements.
increase in horizontal capacity of the structure. Concentric
steel bracing systems have been investigated for the
rehabilitation of non-ductile buildings by many researchers.
Using the eccentric steel bracing in the rehabilitation of RC
structures has lagged behind concentric steel bracing
applications due to the lack of sufficient research and
information about the design, modeling and behavior of the
combined concrete and steel system. Further research is
needed in several areas such as testing of the RC beam–steel
link connection details and design as well as the development
and implementation of link elements models in analysis
software [18]. Post-tensioned steel bracing can be used for the
seismic upgrading of infilled non-ductile buildings limited to
Fig. 15 - Lead Rubber Bearings
low-rise and squat medium-rise buildings [19].
Recently, efforts have been made to extend this valuable
earthquake resistant strategy to inexpensive housing and
public buildings. The results of a joint research program
conducted by the International Rubber Research and the
Development Board (IRRDB) of United Kingdom show that
the method can be both cost effective and functional for the
protection of small buildings in high seismicity regions. A
comparative study conducted by Bruno & Valente [20] on
conventional and innovative seismic protection strategies
concluded that base isolation provides higher degrees of safety
than energy dissipation does, regardless of the type of devices
employed. Moreover the comparison between conventional
and innovative devices showed that shape memory alloys-
based devices are far more effective than rubber isolators in
Fig. 14 - Different possible arrangements of braces reducing seismic vibrations.

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As shown in Figure 18, a combination of different local

and global methods lead to the rise of a Hybrid retrofitting
scheme. The present scenario of earthquakes occurring all
over the world has made it crucial to research these hybrid
interventions in detail to find out the optimum technique
providing both efficiency and economy. Some other non-
traditional retrofitting strategies are listed below:
(a) Internal Concrete Box: This option is more suitable for the
structures of historical importance. In this method all the
internal walls and floors are removed and a new
earthquake resistant R.C.C structure is constructed inside
the existing outer brick wall. The outer wall is connected
to the internal R.C.C structure by shear connectors. The
method is very straight forward and would serve the
purpose during a seismic event to Immediate Occupancy
structural performance level.
(b) Steel Strong Point: This option includes the incorporation
of a new steel stiff frame within the walls, floors and roofs
of the existing structure. The basic intent is to stiffen and
connect the building elements (foundation, wall, floor and
roof) so that they move as a single entity under seismic
loading. This method of retrofitting is cost effective,
relatively less destructive to existing structure and would
provide the structure with lowest level of structural
performance.
(c) Splint and Bandage: This option provides a midway option
between options jacketing and steel strong point strategies,
giving the building at least Life Safety Performance Level
and even up to Damage Control Level. This option
Fig. 16 - Stages of installing isolators in a masonry building (Melkumyan et
al, 2015)
requires the addition of vertical and horizontal steel strips
placed around the building, inside and outside, to restrain
and support the existing structure during an earthquake. As
VI. ALTERNATIVE RETROFIT STRATEGIES
this system requires only discreet areas of additional
In the case of the seismic upgrading, the aim of the retrofit reinforcement, the architectural appearance of the building
strategy as an operational framework is to balance supply and is likely to be quite different. This method of retrofitting is
demand. The supply refers to the capacity of the structural cost effective and quick.
system, which has to be assessed in detail before selecting the
intervention scheme. The demand is expressed by either a
code design spectrum or a site-specific set of records as a
function of period and shape of vibration characteristics of the
upgraded system. By modifying strength, stiffness or ductility
of the system alternative retrofit options are obtained.
Ductility enhancement applies to systems with poor detailing
(sparse shear reinforcement, insufficient lap splicing), stiffness
and strength enhancement to systems with inherently low
deformation capacity (so as to reduce displacement demand),
whereas stiffness, strength and ductility enhancement apply to
systems with low capacity or where seismic demand is high.
Various alternatives to the traditional local and global methods
of seismic upgradation are also available. Enhancing the
ductility, stiffness or both are some of the more commonly
studied and reported of these methods.

Fig. 18 - Hybrid intervention

A study carried out by Roy et al, 2013, focused on a

seismically deficient 3 story URM structure assumed to
be located in the moderate seismic zone of Bangladesh is
taken as a reference to present a comparative analysis of
traditional vs non-traditional strategies o seismic upgradation.
Fig. 17 - Alternative seismic retrofitting strategies Depending on the expected seismic performance level, 5

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possible retrofitting schemes were chosen and designed by the REFERENCES

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