Seismic Design and Analysis of a Cold-Formed Steel Exoskeleton for the Retrofit of an RC Multi-Story Residential Building.

Featured Application: The system under study will provide a modification of the classic use of exoskeletons installed outside buildings on their facades. The lightweight intervention technique will act as an integrated retrofit system of existing RC and masonry buildings by improving both the seismic performance and the energy efficiency with a negligible increase in the mass, a satisfactory augmentation of the stiffness and a reasonable reduction in the thermal dispersion through the structure envelope. The awareness of the vulnerability of existing structures under both seismic and energy perspectives highlights the need for integrated retrofit solutions that combine structural and thermal enhancements. From this perspective, this study explored the efficacy of the Resisto 5.9 Tube system, which is a seismic retrofit solution for masonry and reinforced concrete (RC) structures that also improves the energy performance by integrating a thermal coat integrated within its basic steel framework. This research involved application to a RC building of a design procedure specifically developed for this system that was aimed at facilitating its adoption by designers involved in seismic retrofitting analysis. After designing the system components, nonlinear static analyses were performed using finite element software to compare the building's seismic performance before and after the application of the Resisto 5.9 Tube. The results demonstrate a significant increase in the seismic safety coefficient ζ_E from 0.26 to 0.42, which proved the potential of this intervention to enhance the seismic safety of existing RC buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]