PSI - Issue 78

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 473–480

XX ANIDIS Conference Effect of rebar corrosion and soil settlements on seismic capacity of RC framed buildings Federica Rauseo a, *, Fulvio Parisi a , Mauro Pappalardo b , Elena Michelini b , Beatrice Belletti b

a Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, University of Naples Federico II, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Naples, Italy

b Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, Science Area Park, 43124 Parma, Italy

© 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers Keywords: Reinforced concrete buildings; Corrosion; Differential settlements; Seismic assessment; Fiber models. Abstract The seismic performance of existing buildings can be significantly affected by damage accumulation over time. This study focuses on a reinforced concrete (RC) building archetype representative of buildings designed for gravity loads only in the 1950s, subjected to both rebar corrosion and differential soil settlements. The building structure consists of unidirectional frames and one-way joist slabs according to design codes in force at the time of construction and associated engineering practice. A fiber-based modeling approach is used to capture the nonlinear behavior of materials and to simulate progressive effects of deterioration and deformations, or even damage, due to soil settlements under earthquake loading. Corrosion-related degradation of reinforcing steel is simulated through increasing levels of loss of material properties in the bare RC frame model. Results show that even moderate levels of corrosion or settlements can critically impact seismic performance when combined with each other, highlighting the importance of accounting for multiple degradation sources in the seismic assessment of existing RC buildings. Analysis results support multi-hazard assessment of existing RC buildings under material degradation, soil settlements and seismic actions.

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: federica.rauseo@unina.it

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.12.061