This paper investigates the influence of strain rate effect on the seismic performance of Reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures subjected to far-field and near-field ground motions. An approach for the nonlinear dynamic analysis of RC frame structures considering the strain-rate sensitivity of concrete and reinforcing steel materials is proposed and its effectiveness is validated by the experimental data of RC columns under dynamic loadings. A non-dimensional index is put forward to reveal the regularities of strain rate under different types of ground motions with various intensity levels. The influences of strain rate effect and input ground motion on the seismic performance of the exemplar RC frame are studied by comparing the seismic responses and fragilities of rate-dependent structural models with those of rate-independent ones. Numerical results indicate that the strain rates in structural members increase with the ground motion intensity and the strain rates induced by the near-field pulse-like earthquakes are higher than those by the far-field and near-field non-pulse-like earthquakes. The global response, critical member response, local damage and seismic fragility are all influenced by the strain rate effect, especially under the near-field pulse-like ground motions. Neglecting the influences of strain rate effect, variations in strain rates of different structural members and inputs of pulse-like ground motions may lead to erroneous seismic performance assessments of RC frame structures.
