Comparative Assessment of Seismic and Resilience Performance of Mexican School Buildings with and without Passive Control Systems

Strengthening seismic resilience is a critical priority in Mexico, where frequent earthquakes, driven by its location along major tectonic boundaries, continue to challenge the safety and functionality of urban infrastructure. Among the most exposed sectors is educational infrastructure, as many school buildings were constructed with outdated design practices and limited seismic provisions. These structures, commonly reinforced concrete (RC) frames with non-structural infill walls, are prone to brittle failure under seismic loading, leading to severe structural and non-structural damage, extended downtime, and disruption of essential educational services, as dramatically observed during the 1985 and 2017 Mexican earthquakes. Enhancing their resilience is not only a technical challenge but a societal imperative, considering that school buildings not only ensure continuity of education but also often serve as emergency shelters following disasters. Among the possible strategies to mitigate the seismic demand and enhance resilience one particularly effective approach is the adoption of passive control systems, such as tuned mass dampers (TMD), tuned mass damper inerter (TMDI), and base isolation (BI), which can reduce structural and non-structural damage and minimize the need for extensive reconstruction. This study investigates a representative three-story RC school building, composed of moment resisting frames with masonry infill walls, located in a high seismicity region of Mexico. The building is modelled in detail to capture the nonlinear behavior of RC elements and infill panels. A lumped plasticity approach is employed to simulate the inelastic response of the structure, and nonlinear dynamic time-history analyses are carried out under multiple earthquake scenarios. The effectiveness of different passive control systems is assessed in terms of their contribution to overall structural resilience. The interventions explored include a non-conventional configuration of TMD, a TMDI, and BI, each representing an innovative strategy for seismic response mitigation. The TMD and TMDI devices are installed at the roof level and tuned to the structure fundamental mode of vibration, with parameters optimized for maximum energy dissipation. The BI system is implemented by decoupling the superstructure from the foundation using seismic isolators, designed to shift the natural period and reduce seismic forces transmitted to the structure. Resilience is quantified by using a performance-based framework using key indicators such as inter-story drift, peak floor acceleration, plastic rotation, damage states, functionality loss, and recovery time. The comparative assessment provides insights into the efficiency and applicability of different passive control systems for improving the seismic resilience of educational infrastructure. By integrating structural engineering principles with resilience-based design, the study contributes to the broader field of earthquake engineering and supports the development of safer, more sustainable communities in Mexico and beyond.