Pieroni, Ludovica; (2025) Advancing the design of seismic-resilient buildings with self-centring systems. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Text PhDThesisUCL_LPieroni.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 1 November 2026. Download (17MB)

Abstract

Earthquakes are among the deadliest and costliest natural hazards, with devastating impacts on buildings worldwide. While modern seismic design codes focus on preventing collapse and ensuring life safety, they allow structural damage and residual drifts, which can render buildings unrepairable or out of service for long periods after an earthquake. To address these limitations, the concept of recovery-based design has gained attention, emphasising post-earthquake functionality and reparability. To meet these objectives, enhanced structural systems have been developed. Self-Centring (SC) systems have emerged as a promising solution that combines life safety and collapse prevention with limited structural damage and residual displacements, enabling rapid and economical recovery after an earthquake. Over the past two decades, the effectiveness of SC systems has been widely demonstrated through analytical, experimental, and numerical studies applied to steel, reinforced concrete and mass timber buildings. However, despite this demonstrated potential, the adoption of SC systems in building practice remains limited due to the lack of general and standardised design procedures. The overarching goal of this thesis is to advance the design methodologies of seismic-resilient buildings with SC systems. To achieve this goal, the thesis adopts a twofold perspective: • A system-agnostic perspective, developing general design principles applicable to all structural typologies with SC systems • A system-specific perspective, focusing on detailed design strategies for SC moment-resisting frames and SC rocking wall systems. Specifically, the thesis develops: (i) analytical formulations for estimating inelastic displacement demands of SC single-degree-of-freedom systems as a function of hysteretic behavior; (ii) optimised design strategies for SC moment-resisting frames; and (iii) an analytical framework to capture higher-mode effects in SC rocking wall systems. Overall, these contributions provide both general and system-specific design recommendations, advancing the design of buildings with self-centring systems. This research ultimately supports the integration of SC systems into seismic design practice and contributes to the broader objective of recovery-based seismic design.

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