Recent development in seismic design of reinforced concrete buildings in Japan
Abstract
Japan experienced a quick development of highrise reinforced concrete frame-type apartment building construction, about 30 stories high, in the last decade. Outline of this development is first introduced in terms of planning of buildings, materials, construction methods, earthquake resistant design and dynamic response analysis. This quick development was made possible by, among others, the available high strength concrete and steel. In an attempt to further promote development of new and advanced reinforced concrete building structures, a five-year national project was started in 1988 in Japan, promoted by the Building Research Institute, Ministry of Construction. Outline of this project is introduced in the second part of this paper. It aims at the development and use of concrete up to 120 MPa, and steel up to 1200 MPa.