Influence of the Malaysia’s national annex for seismic design on the size and reinforcement weight of low-rise buildings

Abstract

In early 2017, Malaysia's national annex for the seismic design of structures was published and led to some concerns regarding the increase in the construction cost of buildings. This study investigated the change in the reinforcement weights of beams and columns due to seismic design based on Malaysia's national annex. For this purpose, buildings with different numbers of stories (i.e., 3- and 6-storey), ductility classes (i.e., low and medium), and soil types (i.e., stiff and soft soil) were designed through two different methods. The first method followed the conventional design practice in Malaysia, in which the BS 8110 code was used to design structural elements only for gravity loads. However, the second design method was based on Malaysia's national annex and Eurocode 2, and buildings were designed for gravity loads and seismic actions. The results showed that buildings with low ductility class constructed on the soft soil had the largest increase in the reinforcement weights compared to the conventional design. On the other hand, the buildings with medium ductility class constructed on stiff soil had lesser reinforcement weights than the conventional design.