| Summary: | The idea of the combined seismic and energy retrofitting of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings is examined through a number of case studies conducted on model buildings designed from scratch according to outdated regulations. Specifically, seismic and thermal analyses have been run prior to and after the application of selected retrofitting schemes in order to quantify the positive effect that they can bring about to a structure both in terms of its structural as well as its energy performance. The method used for the seismic upgrading was the strengthening of the masonry infill walls with Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM), as was first presented in by Koutas et al. (2015) at the University of Patras and is tested for the first time in a real-world scenario. On the other hand, thermal upgrading is supposed to be provided by an overall enhancement of the buildings' thermal envelope, with the addition of insulation material and the substitution of the fenestration surfaces. Afterwards, using the very popular economic measure of the Expected Annual Loss (EAL), the efficiency of the retrofitting methods is assessed as is also the idea of the combined seismic and energy retrofitting, which was introduced by Trianta llou et al. (2017, 2018) and Karlos and Triantafi llou (2018), for the first time through the combination of TRM reinforcement with insulating materials. From the results of this work, it is concluded, that the selected seismic retrofitting technique can indeed enhance significantly the structural behavior of an existing RC structure and lower its EAL due to earthquake. Lastly and more importantly, it is found that the combined seismic and energy upgrading is a very efficient idea and is actually economically more advantageous than a sole energy (or seismic) retrofitting, provided, of course, that the seismic risk at the structure's location is significant.
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