Influence of Shear Wall Area-to-Floor Area Ratios and Configurations on the Seismic Response of Tall RC Building Structures: An Overview of Adana After the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes

On 6 February 2023, Türkiye was struck by two devastating earthquakes with moment magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.6, causing severe damage to numerous tall reinforced concrete buildings and emphasizing the need for improved seismic design strategies. This study investigates the seismic response of a representative high-rise reinforced concrete building by systematically varying the shear wall area-to-floor area ratio, a key parameter directly influencing lateral stiffness and overall stability. Utilizing a solid modeling approach and incorporating three-directional seismic records, this research provides detailed insights into displacement behavior beyond conventional frame-based analyses. Focusing on Adana, a major urban center with a significant concentration of tall buildings and notable seismic risk, three design scenarios with shear wall ratios of 1.14%, 1.54%, and 2.1% were examined. The results demonstrate that increasing the shear wall cross-sectional area compared to the building plan area significantly reduces lateral and vertical displacements, with the most pronounced improvement observed when moving from 1.14% to 1.54%. Further increase to 2.1% provides additional enhancement in seismic performance. This study suggests that adopting a minimum shear wall area-to-floor area ratio of at least 2% along each principal direction (resulting in a total combined ratio of approximately 4% for the building) can substantially improve seismic resilience and mitigate collapse risk in tall structures. Importantly, the shear wall ratios were considered separately for each principal direction, with the total combined ratio doubling, highlighting the need for balanced wall distribution in both directions.