1st Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering 1CroCEE 2021

Earthquake resistance of structures is guaranteed through their proper design according to the seismic codes in power. In the Republic of North Macedonia, since 1981, the regulative for construction of high-rise buildings in seismic locations together with the regulative for concrete and reinforced concrete (1987) are applied, herein called Macedonian Codes. On the other hand, for seismic design of structures, in member states of European Union, Eurocode 8 (accompanied with other parts of Eurocodes) is implemented. In this paper the differences and similarities in concepts as well as in requirements between Macedonian Codes and Eurocodes are highlighted. Then, an example RC frame building is analyzed and designed separately in accordance with Macedonian Codes and Eurocodes, so that to satisfy the minimal requirements. The structural dimensions of both buildings (in terms of stories, bays, slab thickness and beams’ cross-sections) are intentionally taken to be the same, in order to simplify and clarify the comparison, but because codes have different strictness for certain criteria, i.e. interstorey drifts and normalized axial load, there are some differences in reinforcement quantities or even in column cross-sections. Because the elastic analysis of the building does not give a clear picture about the building behaviour after its yielding point, another type of analysis was performed, namely, nonlinear static (pushover) analysis. Performing this analysis, it is confirmed whether the calculated levels of strength and deformation (in terms of base shear force and top-storey displacement, respectively) based on codes are achieved.