~ 26 ~ International Journal of Structural Design and Engineering 2020; 1(1): 26-31 Evaluation of seismic performance of 6-storeys RC buildings, in ABHA City - KSA, by using pushover analysis method Khalid Elhadi, Yasser Alashker, Mohammed Laissy and Ayed E Alluqmani Abstract Recently, the evaluation of the seismic performance of existing buildings has received great attention. Since Saudi Arabia has low to moderate seismicity, most of the existing buildings were designed only for gravity load. The objective of this study is to assess the seismic performance of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Abha city, Saudi Arabia. One typical building was investigated using pushover analysis according to the Applied Technology Council (ATC-40). They were designed according to the Regulations for earthquake-resistant design of buildings in Egypt (Egyptian Society for Earthquake Engineering, ESEE) and International Building Code (IBC2012). Results showed that the buildings designed considering by ESEE and IBC2012 loads were found adequate and satisfies the Immediate Occupancy (IO) acceptance criteria according to ATC-40. The comparison of the pushover curve shows that the stiffness of frames is larger when using ESEE Regulations compared to the IBC2012 design. This means that ESEE design procedure provides a greater capacity to resist seismic load than the IBC2012 design. Where are Findings? Keywords: Pushover analysis, seismic capacity, Saudi Arabia, assessment, RC buildings 1. Introduction Saudi Arabia is not free from earthquakes. It has experienced many earthquakes during the recent history, and the previous studies in this field demonstrated this argument [1] . Most of existing buildings in Saudi Arabia do not meet the current design standards due to design shortage or construction shortcomings. There are various reasons such as there is no seismic Code in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, existing buildings should be evaluated regarding their capacity for resisting expected seismic effects. To estimate seismic demands for a building, the structural engineering profession is now using the non-linear static procedure, known as pushover analysis. It is a commonly used technique, which provides acceptable results [2] . Pushover analysis is a series of incremental static analysis carried out to develop a capacity curve for the building. This procedure needs the execution of a nonlinear static analysis of the structure that allows the monitoring of the progressive yielding of the structure component [3] . The building is subjected to a lateral load. The load magnitude increases until the building reaches the targeted displacement. This target displacement is determined to represent the top displacement when the building is subjected to design level ground excitation. Pushover analysis produces a pushover curve or capacity curve that presents the relationship between on the strength and deformation capacities of the structure and describes how the structure behaves beyond the elastic limit [4] . Many researchers have conducted studies in this area such as [5, 9] . These studies were conducted to investigate the performance of samples of existing RC buildings in the Saud Arabia. 2. Evaluation of seismic performance of existing buildings Most buildings and structures in Saudi Arabia have not yet been designed and constructed in compliance with earthquake provisions or given any consideration for earthquake effect. Therefore, two existing Codes will be used to evaluate seismic (earthquake) loads in order to perform the seismic performance of chosen buildings.