Comparison of Seismic Demands of for Low-rise Reinforced Concrete Buildings on Different Soil Types According to the 2007 and 2018 Turkish Earthquake Codes: A Case Study of Kocaeli

Under the current Turkish Building Earthquake Code (TBDY-2018), the 'earthquake zone' concept from the previously applied Code on Structures to be Built in Earthquake Zones (DBYBHY-2007) has been abandoned, and acceleration effects based on the building's location have been taken into account. Previously, structures within the same earthquake zone were subjected to the same seismic loads; after this change, even nearby structures are subjected to different seismic loads. In this study, to examine the impact of code changes on structures in Kocaeli Province, a commonly used, typical reinforced concrete structure was selected, and seismic analyses were conducted on this structure assuming it was located in 12 different districts and on various soil types within the province. The analyses revealed that, across all districts, for soil classes ZA/Z1, the base shear forces obtained according to the 2018 earthquake code were lower than those obtained under the 2007 code, whereas those for soil classes ZD/Z3 and ZE/Z4 were higher.