Updated fragility functions for shear-critical reinforced concrete walls

FEMA P-58 provides engineers with second-generation tools for performance-based seismic assessment of buildings. Central to the loss calculations enabled by FEMA P-58 are fragility functions, which plot the probability of exceeding a user-specified damage state (linked to a repair measure) as a function of a demand parameter. Gulec and Whittaker developed the fragility functions for shear-critical reinforced concrete walls that are part of the FEMA P-58 documentation. In past experimental programs, damage was often reported at displacements greater than that of peak shear strength and damage data at zero lateral loading, mimicking the post-earthquake condition, was not provided. This paper updates the fragility functions developed by Gulec and Whittaker using damage documented at zero lateral loading, which is the starting point for repair. The fragility functions use peak transient displacement as the demand parameter because it is output from seismic analysis of a numerical model.