Pathological and Structural Assessment of a Residential Building in Lota, Chile

Abstract

The urban development of Lota city (Chile) was strongly influenced by the coal-mining industry during 19th and 20th century. Virtually, the entire city was built, initially, by Matias Cousiño’s Coal Company and, later, by the National Coal Company of Chile (ENACAR). At the beginning of the 21st century, the city began to experience a decline because of the closure of coal mines. This situation affected not only the economy and employment of the city, but also the maintenance of its infrastructure and the conservation of historical buildings. The “Anibal Pinto Building” is a 5 stories reinforced concrete and masonry structure, built in 1966. Besides of an aggressive coastal environment and poor maintenance, this building has experienced one major earthquake (Mw 8.8 in 2010). As a consequence, cracks, concrete spalding and reinforcement corrosion is observed in several structural elements. To evaluate the current state of the building and determine it remaining operation life, a structural assessment procedure was implemented based on field explorations, laboratory analysis and numerical modeling. Field explorations considered tests to identify carbonation, humidity, porosity, concrete hardness. While, laboratory analysis included compression test of concrete cores extracted from the building. These investigations were developed with the aim of determine the mechanical properties of buildings materials and for identifying pathologies that affects reinforced concrete. The experimental data was used to elaborate a finite element model in SAP 2000 to estimate building performance compared to the current seismic regulation in Chile.

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