Seismic Performance Assessment and Upgrading of Al-Karamah Teaching Hospital Building under 2017 Halabjah Earthquake

Seismic evaluation and retrofitting are considered very important issues in the maintenance and strengthening in terms of buildings resistance against earthquake loads. The study aims to apply a practical way, such as the seismic assessment of the Al-Karamah Teaching Hospital -Thalassemia Centre Building in Baghdad, Iraq. It is involving the analysis and converts 2017 Halabjah earthquake records to the response spectrum. By using the pushover analysis, the results were compared with results of (Design Basis Earthquake (DBE), and Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE)) elastic response spectrum of the Iraqi Seismic Code (ISC-2017). The results were carried out in terms of capacity curves, performance level according to ATC-40, and the plastic hinge mechanism. Regarding the practical method aforementioned, the results illustrated that the plastic hinges formed in the primary elements (structural elements). The retrofitting mechanism was conducted by joining two parts of the Thalassemia Centre Building to be one entity. This technique leads to an increase in the base shear to (61.77%, 51.51%, 28.51%, and 70.85%) for two parts in the two directions (X and Y) respectively, a decrease in the roof displacement to (8%, 27%, 108.16%, and 387%) for two parts in the two directions (X and Y) respectively, neglecting the torsion effect, a decrease in the story drift and change the performance level of the building to the Immediate Occupancy (IO) level.