PSI - Issue 78

Mariano Di Domenico et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 1237–1244

1243

The analyses were conducted on six case-study buildings, representative of typical Italian RC frame structures designed according to outdated seismic codes. Different construction ages, number of storeys, and infill configurations were taken into account. The results indicated that both the debris volume and the ejection distance increase with seismic intensity but tend to stabilize at higher levels. This saturation effect is linked to the nonlinear response of the main structural system, which reduces the acceleration demands transferred to the infills. One key outcome is that the expected debris volume remains below 30% of the total infill volume in older buildings, and below 20% in more recent ones. Ejection distances typically reach up to 10% of the building height for older buildings and up to 25% for newer structures. At the 84th percentile, these values increase to 50% for both debris volume and ejection distance. After normalization, no clear trend was observed related to the number of storeys or the presence of openings in the infill panels. These results are relevant for assessing road accessibility after earthquakes, where even limited debris accumulation may critically hinder evacuation routes and emergency response operations. Acknowledgements This work was developed under the financial support of RETURN - multi-Risk sciEnce for resilienT commUnities undeR a changiNg climate PE3 (Codice del Progetto di Ricerca approvato nell’ambito del PNRR: PE00000005 Codice Unico di Progetto (CUP): E63C22002000002), financed by European Union – NextGenerationEU within PNRR – MISSIONE 4: ISTRUZIONE E RICERCA - COMPONENTE 2: DALLA RICERCA ALL’IMPRESA - Investimento 1.3 Creazione di “Partenariati estesi alle università, ai centri di ricerca, alle aziende per il finanziamento di progetti di ricerca di base”. Alath, S., and S.K. Kunnath, 1995. "Modelling inelastic shear deformations in RC beam–column joints." In: 10th Conference in Engineering Mechanics , Boulder, Colorado, USA, May 21–24. Amini, M., Sanderson, D.R., Cox, D.T., Barbosa, A.R., Rosenheim, N., 2024. "Methodology to incorporate seismic damage and debris to evaluate strategies to reduce life safety risk for multi - hazard earthquake and tsunami." Nat. Hazards 120, 9187–9222. Anelli, A., Mori, F., Vona, M., 2020. "Fragility curves of the urban road network based on the debris distributions of interfering buildings." Appl. Sci. 10, 1289. Angel, R., Abrams, D.P., Shapiro, D., Uzarski, J., Webster, M., 1994. "Behaviour of reinforced concrete frames with masonry infills." University of Illinois Engineering Experiment Station. College of Engineering. University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign. Argyroudis, S., Selva, J., Gehl, P., Pitilakis, K., 2015. "Systemic seismic risk assessment of road networks considering interactions with the built environment." Comput. Aided Civ. Infrastruct. Eng. 30, 524–540. Aslani, H., Miranda, E., 2005. "Probabilistic earthquake loss estimation and loss disaggregation in buildings." Report No. 157, The John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Barbagallo, F., Di Domenico, M., Terrenzi, M., Cantagallo, C., Marino, E.M., Ricci, P., Verderame, G.M., Camata, G., Spacone, E., 2023. "Influence of the modelling approach on the seismic assessment of RC structures by nonlinear static analyses." Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng. 172. Cardone, D., Perrone, G., 2015. "Developing fragility curves and loss functions for masonry infill walls." Earthq. Struct. 9(1), 257–279. Celik, O.C., Ellingwood, B.R., 2008. "Modeling beam - column joints in fragility assessment of gravity load designed reinforced concrete frames." J. Earthq. Eng. 12(3), 357–383. CEN, 2004. "Eurocode 8 – Design of structures for earthquake resistance. Part 1 - 1: General rules, seismic actions and rules for buildings." Brussels, 229 p. Cherubini, A., 2006. "Inventario e vulnerabilità dei sistemi urbani – Analisi di vulnerabilità e rischio sismico delle reti e dei sistemi urbani." INGV/GNDT, Roma. (in Italian) De Risi, M.T., Di Domenico, M., Manfredi, V., Terrenzi, M., Camata, G., Mollaioli, F., Noto, F., Ricci, P., Franchin, P., Masi, A., et al., 2023. "Modelling and seismic response analysis of pre - code and low - code reinforced concrete buildings in Italy. Part I: Bare frames." J. Earthq. Eng. De Risi, M.T., Ricci, P., Verderame, G.M., 2017. "Modelling exterior unreinforced beam - column joints in seismic analysis of non - ductile RC frames." Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn. 46(6), 899–923. Decanini, L., Fantin, G.E., 1986. "Modelos simplificados de la mampostería incluidas en pórticos. Características de rigidez y resistencia lateral en estado límite." In: VI Jornadas Argentinas de Ingeniería Estructural , Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 1–3. (in Spanish) Decanini, L., Liberatore, L., Mollaioli, F., 2014. "Strength and stiffness reduction factors for infilled frames with openings." Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib. 13(3), 437–454. References