Page 1 of 18 Comparison of Seismic Performance of D-region of Existing RC Structures Designed with Different Recommendations Balthasar Novák 1 , K.Ramanjaneyulu 2 , Constanze Roehm 3 and Saptarshi Sasmal 4 1 Professor, ILEK, Universitaet Stuttgart, Germany; 2 Deputy Director, Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai, India; 3 PhD scholar, ILEK, Universitaet Stuttgart, Germany; 4 Scientist, Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai, India and PhD Scholar, ILEK, Universitaet Stuttgart, Germany Email: 3 constanze.roehm@ilek.uni-stuttgart.de; 4 saptarshi@sercm.org Synopsis: Gravity load designed (GLD) structures are vulnerable to any major earthquake and it demands for immediate assessment of their seismic performance to avoid any undesirable collapse. Nevertheless, there is no such information on comparative performance of existing structures designed based on prevailing practicing standards in different stages of their development. Further, stipulated provisions for seismic design of structures differ from one standard to another. In the present study, these issues are covered by considering different stages of Eurocode and Indian Standards provisions for designing the reinforced concrete structure. Further, an exterior beam column joint (D-region) of a building frame has been selected as the target sub-assemblage to be studied under reversed cyclic load. The study is aimed at evaluating seismic performance of the structural component designed according to the prevailing guidelines and has brought out the implications of the differences in the guidelines on seismic performance. It is found that the GLD structure is severely vulnerable to even medium earthquake. Among the seismically designed specimens without ductile detailing, Indian Standard exhibits better performance over the Eurocode (10% more energy dissipation) under large drift ratio, and among the seismically designed and properly detailed specimens, Eurocode design with medium ductility could not perform as good as Indian Standard design (25% less energy dissipation). Therefore, earthquake design and ductile detailing provisions of different standards and their progressive improvements have a considerable influence on seismic performance of reinforced concrete structures. Key words: beam-column joint, D-region study, drift ratio, ductile detailing, energy dissipation, seismic performance