Collapse Time of Old Reinforced Concrete Buildings

Many old reinforced concrete (RC) buildings collapsed during the past devastating earthquakes due to the gravity load collapse of brittle columns. For the purpose of planning for building evacuation, it is very important to know the time it takes for these buildings to collapse. The purpose of this study was to examine the collapse time of RC buildings using dynamic analysis. The study revealed that the time between shear failure and collapse is too short for individuals to safely evacuate a building.