An inventory of buildings in the city of Tunis and an assessment of their vulnerability

Tunis is a densely populated city. Its building stock was constructed without any seismic design code and mostly over soft soils. These facts make a seismic risk assessment of the city necessary. To prepare a large-scale vulnerability assessment of the buildings of Tunis, the following methodology was employed: (1) a collection of data based on a rapid visual screening procedure was gathered using an inventory form. These data were composed of files and information placed at the disposal of the authors by the municipality of Tunis. The data also contained information gathered by surveys carried out by engineering departments and information gathered from building owners. (2) A classification of building typologies was carried out considering construction material, structural system, age, height, function and state of maintenance. A measure of seismic vulnerability was assigned to each typology considering the first two parameters. (3) A large-scale vulnerability assessment using two methods was conducted for buildings for which few data were available. Vulnerability methods inspired by the EMS98 concepts and the Italian GNDT concepts were modified and applied to pilot-scale buildings located in the downtown zone (Habib Bourguiba Avenue) and in the old zone (Medina). The data analysis, through the application of the two methods, suggests that the vulnerability of buildings surveyed in Tunis is significant and risk mitigation efforts are necessary.     

A comparison of seismic risk maps for Italy

National seismic risk maps are an important risk mitigation tool as they can be used for the prioritization of regions within a country where retrofitting of the building stock or other risk mitigation measures should take place. The production of a seismic risk map involves the convolution of seismic hazard data, vulnerability predictions for the building stock and exposure data. The seismic risk maps produced in Italy over the past 10 years are compared in this paper with recent proposals for seismic risk maps based on state-of-the-art seismic hazard data and mechanics-based vulnerability assessment procedures. The aim of the paper is to open the discussion for the way in which future seismic risk maps could be produced, making use of the most up-to-date information in the fields of seismic hazard evaluation and vulnerability assessment.     

Damage classification and derivation of damage probability matrices from L’Aquila (2009) post-earthquake survey data

Post-earthquake damage data represent an invaluable source of information for the seismic vulnerability assessment of the exposed building stock, as they are a direct evidence of the actual buildings’ performance under real seismic events. This paper exploits a robust and homogeneous database of damage data collected after the 2009 L’Aquila (Italy) earthquake, to derive damage probability matrices for several building typologies representative of the Italian building stock. To this aim, the first part of the work investigates several issues related to the definition of damage to be associated with each inspected building. Different approaches and damage conversion rules are applied, pointing out advantages and weaknesses of each one. Considering the widespread seismic damage observed on masonry infill panels and partitions of reinforced concrete constructions, the impact of this type of non-structural damage on empirical damage and functional loss distributions is explored. The second part of the study proposes different possible interpretations of the repartition of the observed damage in the different damage levels, showing in some cases a bimodal trend. Two novel hybrid procedures are outlined and compared with the classical binomial approach for predicting the subdivision of damage in the different levels. The application of the proposed methodologies to the different building typologies allows the selection, for each one, of the method providing the best fit to empirical results. The parameters required for the application of the optimal approach are reported in the paper, so that results can be used for forecasting the expected seismic damage in sites with similar seismic hazard and exposed buildings.     

基于城市抗震弹塑性分析的我国主要城市建筑地震风险评估

全国尺度的城市建筑地震风险评估对城市防震减灾工作有着重要意义。本文根据全国人口普查和城市统计年鉴等给出的宏观指标建立城市建筑数据库,通过GEAR1方法(Global earthquake activity rate model 1)和第五代中国地震动参数区划图给出具体场地的地面运动强度,通过地面坡度与剪切波速的对应关系确定的场地类别来考虑地震动输入,采用城市抗震弹塑性分析方法建立建筑分析模型,通过地震经济损失风险指标和建筑严重破坏和倒塌风险作为风险评价指标,给出中国大陆主要城市建筑地震风险分布图。结果分析表明,本文方法可以基于可公开获取的数据预测全国不同城市的建筑震害风险;根据第五代地震动参数区划图给出的地面强度,地震经济损失高风险区主要是设防加速度0.3g以上地区;考虑城市人口、GDP因素后,中、东部城市因人口和财富密度较高,建筑地震风险增加明显;不同地震动选波对经济损失风险影响较小,而对倒塌风险影响较大。本文分析方法可以为城市建筑地震风险分析提供相关参考。     

Seismic vulnerability assessment and characterisation of the buildings on Faial Island, Azores

The earthquake of the 9th of July 1998 that hit in the central group of the Azores archipelago greatly affected the islands of Faial, Pico and S?o Jorge, reaching a magnitude of Mw 6.2 with the epicentre located about 15km northeast of the Faial Island. This earthquake allowed the collection of an unprecedented quantity of data concerning the characterisation of the building stock and the damage suffered by construction. This is the main purpose of this research, consisting essentially of three main aspects: (i) A detailed characterisation of the building stock, assigning a five category classification, from old traditional rubble stone masonry to reinforced concrete moment framed buildings; (ii) A detailed damage grade classification based on the different damage mechanisms observed; and, (iii) A seismic vulnerability assessment of the building stock. The results of the vulnerability assessment together with the building stock database and damage classification were integrated into a GIS tool, allowing the spatial visualation of damage scenarios, which is potentially useful for the planning of emergency response strategies and retrofitting priorities to mitigate and manage seismic risk.     

Code‐based record selection methods for seismic performance assessment of buildings

The recent concerns regarding the seismic safety of the existing building stock have highlighted the need for an improvement of current seismic assessment procedures. Alongside with the development of more advanced commercial software tools and computational capacities, nonlinear dynamic analysis is progressively becoming a common and preferable procedure in the seismic assessment of buildings. Besides the complexity associated with the formulation of the mathematical model, major issues arise related with the definition of the seismic action, which can lead to different levels of uncertainty in terms of local and global building response. Aiming to address this issue, a comparative study of different code‐based record selection methods proposed by Eurocode 8, ASCE41‐13 and NZS1170.5:2004 is presented herein. The various methods are employed in the seismic assessment of four steel buildings, designed according to different criteria, and the obtained results are compared and discussed. Special attention is devoted to the influence of the number of real ground motion records selected on the estimation of the mean seismic response and, importantly, to the efficiency that is achieved when an additional selection criteria, based on the control of the spectral mismatch of each individual record with respect to the reference response spectrum, is adopted. The sufficiency of the methods with respect to the pairs of M–R of the selected group of records and the robustness of the scaling procedure are also examined. The paper closes with a study which demonstrates the suitability of a simplified probability‐based approach recently proposed for estimating mean seismic demands. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a seismic risk mitigation methodology for public buildings applied to the hospitals of Basilicata region (Southern Italy)

This paper deals with the development of a procedure aimed at defining a seismic risk mitigation strategy for public buildings in terms of prioritization, time required and funds. The procedure is based on a global risk index involving the entire building stock under study thus facilitating an examination of risk variation over time up to its final value. Relationships between the current seismic capacity–demand ratios and the required strengthening costs (cost models) have been developed. Each of the assumed cost models has a different target in terms of capacity–demand ratio to be obtained after strengthening, basically ranging between full retrofit and upgrading. The procedure has been applied to 69 hospital buildings located in Basilicata region for which the vulnerability data was available as a result of a large assessment program set up by the regional government. Priorities have been defined on the basis of seismic capacity, local hazard and number of human beings possibly involved (exposure). The results of different strengthening strategies have been outlined with a special focus on the pros and cons of the upgrading strategy with respect to various retrofit strategies. The procedure may be applied to different categories of public buildings by properly modifying some input parameters and partially redefining criteria for prioritization.     

Earthquake loss assessment of precast RC industrial structures in Tuscany (Italy)

A seismic loss assessment for structural, non-structural, contents and business interruption is presented for precast reinforced concrete industrial buildings located in Italy. The correlation that exists between the performances of such spatially distributed buildings (i.e. spatial correlation) given a seismic event should be considered when estimating losses at a local or regional level. Loss assessment is thus performed herein using the OpenQuake-engine, an open-source tool capable of including the spatial correlation of ground-motion residuals and uncertainty in building vulnerability. The annual probability of structural collapse is employed as an initial risk measure, in which each industrial facility is considered as an individual asset. Then the economic loss for 300 buildings in the province of Arezzo is computed using a probabilistic event-based risk approach and presented in terms of annual average losses and losses at given annual rates of exceedance. The impact of the losses due to business interruption is also explored, and the extent of customer base is used as a prioritization metric for risk mitigation. It is observed that risk reduction should be applied as a priority in the facilities that are compromising the current level of acceptable risk, and the results show that business interruption has a significant contribution for economic losses, whose repercussions go beyond the regional level. Although this application is confined to the province of Arezzo, the same methodology can be used in other regions in Italy with similar building stock.     

Detailed assessment of structural characteristics of Turkish RC building stock for loss assessment models

Assessment of the seismic vulnerability of the building stock in the earthquake-prone Marmara region of Turkey is of growing importance since such information is needed for reliable estimation of the losses that possible future earthquakes are likely to induce. The outcome of such loss assessment exercises can be used in planning of urban/regional-scale earthquake protection strategies; this is a priority in Turkey, particularly following the destructive earthquakes of 1999. Considering the size of the building inventory, Istanbul and its surrounding area is a case for which it is not easy to determine the structural properties and characteristics of the building stock. In this paper, geometrical, functional and material properties of the building stock in the northern Marmara Region, particularly around Istanbul, have been investigated and evaluated for use in loss estimation models and other types of statistic- or probability-based studies. In order to do that, the existing reinforced concrete (RC) stock has been classified as ‘compliant’ or ‘non-compliant’ buildings, dual (frame-wall) or frame structures and emergent or embedded-beam systems. In addition to the statistical parameters such as mean values, standard deviations, etc., probability density functions and their goodness-of-fit have also been investigated for all types of parameters. Functionalities such as purpose of use and floor area properties have been defined. Concrete properties of existing and recently constructed buildings and also characteristics of 220 and 420 MPa types of steel have been documented. Finally, the financial effects of retrofitting operations and damage repair have been investigated.     

装配式钢混组合结构加固时抗震性能模糊综合评估模型研究

参数化的装配式钢混组合结构建筑信息模型缺少结构信息描述,无法实现装配式钢混组合结构图档的修正和自主更新,对结构构件的损伤评估效果差,抗震加固性能差。据此提出用于装配式钢混组合结构抗震加固的建筑信息模型,模型框架包括建筑设计模型、结构设计模型、结构抗震加固设计和损伤评估;通过结构构件的实体定义、属性定义和关联性定义,全面描述柱、梁、板和墙等钢混组合结构构件的抗震加固性能信息;采用模糊加固评估方法获取精准的结构构建综合损伤指数,评估结构构件的加固等级,提高抗震加固性能。经实验证明,所设计模型得到的结构损伤指数与实际损伤指数的误差低于0.03,说明该模型分析装配式钢混组合结构抗震加固性能准确性较高。     

Seismic performance assessment of “hybrid” structures using two-level multy group GIS oriented approach: case studies

In this paper, a two-level multi-group approach to seismic performance assessment of existing building stock is presented and discussed. The first level of assessment is a simple visual screening based on the principles originally developed in FEMA (Rapid visual screening of buildings for potential seismic hazards: a handbook—FEMA 154 and 155, Applied Technology Council, Redwood City, 2002). The second level of assessment is based on an integrated approach (field survey, geotechnical investigations, experimental testing and analytical investigations) with incorporated procedures of different levels of complexity. The acceptance criteria for assessment are founded on demand versus capacity relationships, defined at element and story level. The developed approach was applied in performance assessment of the existing buildings in Karposh, which is one of the largest and oldest municipalities in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Rapid visual screening (level_1 activity) was performed for 161 existing buildings. For two selected buildings, level_2 assessment was carried out. The results from the assessment were uploaded into the existing geo-referenced building inventory database on the Karposh municipality that represents a practical tool for the decision makers in enforcing decisions on design and construction of seismically resilient building environment.     

Simplified seismic sidesway collapse analysis of frame buildings

This paper presents the development and assessment of a simplified procedure for estimating the seismic sidesway collapse margin ratio of building structures. The proposed procedure is based on the development of a robust database of seismic peak displacement responses of nonlinear single‐degree‐of‐freedom systems for various seismic intensities and uses nonlinear static (pushover) analysis without the need for nonlinear time history dynamic analysis. The proposed simplified procedure is assessed by comparing its collapse capacity predictions on 72 different building structures with those obtained by nonlinear incremental dynamic analyses. The proposed simplified procedure offers a simple, yet efficient, computational/analytical tool that is capable of predicting collapse capacities with acceptable accuracy for a wide variety of frame building structures. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic vulnerability and risk assessment: case study of the historic city centre of Coimbra, Portugal

Seismic risk evaluation of built-up areas involves analysis of the level of earthquake hazard of the region, building vulnerability and exposure. Within this approach that defines seismic risk, building vulnerability assessment assumes great importance, not only because of the obvious physical consequences in the eventual occurrence of a seismic event, but also because it is the one of the few potential aspects in which engineering research can intervene. In fact, rigorous vulnerability assessment of existing buildings and the implementation of appropriate retrofitting solutions can help to reduce the levels of physical damage, loss of life and the economic impact of future seismic events. Vulnerability studies of urban centres should be developed with the aim of identifying building fragilities and reducing seismic risk. As part of the rehabilitation of the historic city centre of Coimbra, a complete identification and inspection survey of old masonry buildings has been carried out. The main purpose of this research is to discuss vulnerability assessment methodologies, particularly those of the first level, through the proposal and development of a method previously used to determine the level of vulnerability, in the assessment of physical damage and its relationship with seismic intensity. Also presented and discussed are the strategy and proposed methodology adopted for the vulnerability assessment, damage and loss scenarios for the city centre of Coimbra, Portugal, using a GIS mapping application.     

Elastic period of sub-standard reinforced concrete moment resisting frame buildings

The fundamental period has a primary role in seismic design and assessment as it is the main feature of the structure that allows one to determine the elastic demand and, indirectly, the required inelastic performance in static procedures. In fact, the definition of easy to manage relationships for the assessment of the elastic period has been the subject of a significant deal of both experimental and numerical/analytical studies, some of which have been acknowledged by codes and guidelines worldwide. Moreover, this kind of information is useful for territorial-scale seismic loss assessment methodologies. In the majority of cases, the assessment of the period is considered as function of the structural system classification and number of storeys or height. Reinforced concrete structures, comprising most of the building stock in Italy and in seismic prone areas in Europe and in the Mediterranean region, were built after the Second World War and are designed with obsolete seismic codes, if not for gravity loads only. Therefore, a class of buildings featuring the same height and/or number of storeys may show a significant variability of the structural system. This, along with the contribution of the stair module, may affect the elastic periods in the two main directions of a three-dimensional building. In the study presented these issues are investigated with reference to a population of existing RC structures designed acknowledging the practice at the time of supposed construction (e.g., simulated design) and with reference to the relative enforced code. The elastic period is evaluated for both main directions of the buildings of the considered sample, and regression analysis is employed to capture the dependency of the elastic dynamic properties of the structures as a function of mass and stiffness.     

Seismic vulnerability estimation of the building considering seismic environment and local site condition

Introduction The estimation of damage probability distribution among different damage states of rein-forced concrete buildings is a key component of earthquake loss estimation for modern city or a group of cities. With the development of city, the reinforced concrete buildings are major compo-nent parts of modern cities. Vulnerability estimates for these kinds of buildings are of importance to those responsible for civil protection, relief, and emergency services to enable adequate contin-genc…     

The Influence of Ground-Motion Variability in Earthquake Loss Modelling

Earthquake loss models are subject to many large uncertainties associated with the input parameters that define the seismicity, the ground motion, the exposure and the vulnerability characteristics of the building stock. In order to obtain useful results from a loss model, it is necessary to correctly identify and characterise these uncertainties, incorporate them into the calculations, and then interpret the results taking account of the influence of the uncertainties. An important element of the uncertainty will always be the aleatory variability in the ground-motion prediction. Options for handling this variability include following the traditional approach used in site-specific probabilistic seismic hazard assessment or embedding the variability within the vulnerability calculations at each location. The physical interpretation of both of these approaches, when applied to many sites throughout an urban area to assess the overall effects of single or multiple earthquake events, casts doubts on their validity. The only approach that is consistent with the real nature of ground-motion variability is to model the shaking component of the loss model by triggering large numbers of earthquake scenarios that sample the magnitude and spatial distributions of the seismicity, and also the distribution of ground motions for each event as defined by the aleatory variability.     

Estimating peak dynamic response from pushover type analysis using a semi-empirical method

A procedure is developed in this paper that enables modification of the Modal Pushover results to predict the peak dynamic responses. Steps involved in this procedure cannot be strictly derivable from the first principle, but the resulting responses always match with the theoretical results within the elastic regime. A Generalized Single Degree of Freedom system is defined with a displacement profile derived from the maximum (regardless of sign) relative floor displacements and results of which is semi-empirically modified to predict the peak dynamic responses. Three test-beds are considered for assessment of the proposed method: (1) ten-storeyed symmetric building designed and detailed conforming to the Indian seismic code; (2) ten storey plan-asymmetric building designed and detailed per Indian seismic code; and (3) seven-storeyed existing building located in seismic Zone IV of India. Three seismic events recorded at the Large Scale Seismic Testing array in Lotung, Taiwan are used for this purpose. Distribution of the peak absolute floor acceleration and peak relative floor velocity across the height based on the proposed method is found in well agreement with those calculated using the rigorous IDA. The procedure can best be applied to the seismic safety assessment non-structural components (that are acceleration and velocity sensitive) of building adding a little cost to the routine assessment of structural components.     

Shallow geology characterization using Rayleigh and Love wave dispersion curves derived from seismic noise array measurements

The local geology and shallow S-wave velocity structure of a site are recognized to be key factors for the increase in the damaging potential of seismic waves. Indeed, seismic amplitudes may be amplified in frequency ranges unfavorable for building stock by the presence of soft sedimentary covers over lying hard bedrock. Hence, microzonation activities, which aim at assessing the site response as accurately as possible, have become a fundamental task for the seismic risk reduction of urbanized areas. Methods based on the measurement of seismic noise, which typically are fast, non-invasive, and low cost, have become a very attractive option in microzonation studies.Using observations derived from seismic noise recordings collected by two-dimensional arrays of seismic stations, we present a novel joint inversion scheme for surface wave curves. In particular, the Love wave, the Rayleigh wave dispersion and the HVSR curves are innovatively combined in a joint inversion procedure carried out following a global search approach (i.e., the Genetic Algorithm).The procedure is tested using a data set of seismic noise recordings collected at the Bevagna (Italy) test-site. The results of the novel inversion scheme are compared with the inversion scheme proposed by Parolai et al. (2005), where only Rayleigh wave dispersion and HVSR curves are used, and with a cross-hole survey.     

Performance-based methodology for assessing seismic vulnerability and capacity of buildings

This paper presents a performance-based methodology for the assessment of seismic vulnerability and capacity of buildings. The vulnerability assessment methodology is based on the HAZUS methodology and the improved capacity- demand-diagram method. The spectral displacement (Sd) of performance points on a capacity curve is used to estimate the damage level of a building. The relationship between Sd and peak ground acceleration (PGA) is established, and then a new vulnerability function is expressed in terms of PGA. Furthermore, the expected value of the seismic capacity index (SCev) is provided to estimate the seismic capacity of buildings based on the probability distribution of damage levels and the corresponding seismic capacity index. The results indicate that the proposed vulnerability methodology is able to assess seismic damage of a large number of building stock directly and quickly following an earthquake. The SCev provides an effective index to measure the seismic capacity of buildings and illustrate the relationship between the seismic capacity of buildings and seismic action. The estimated result is compared with damage surveys of the cities of Dujiangyan and Jiangyou in the M8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, revealing that the methodology is acceptable for seismic risk assessment and decision making. The primary reasons for discrepancies between the estimated results and the damage surveys are discussed.     

Robustness and uncertainties of seismic damage estimates at urban scale: a methodological comparison on the example of the city of Oran (Algeria)

The city of Oran is exposed to a significant seismic hazard, as almost all the northern Algeria territory, where numerous casualties and severe damage occurred in the last decades due to several moderate to large earthquakes. A mitigation policy should include the establishment of priorities to reduce the vulnerability of existing buildings based on the knowledge of the actual urban fabrics. The complexity of vulnerability assessment requires a gradual approach from the urban scale to the building scale. The study reported in this paper corresponds to the first step of such an approach, i.e., a preliminary study of the seismic vulnerability and expected damage within an urban district of the city of Oran, based on a non-dedicated data base from a building survey previously performed for other purposes. The main goals of this study are twofold: (1) an assessment of the degree of uncertainty and robustness of such results through a comparison of the results derived from different urban vulnerability methods (GNDT 2; RISK-UE LM1; and VULNERALP 2.0) and (2) an assessment of the actual level of seismic risk in the city of Oran. Cross-method comparisons and correlations highlight a satisfactory agreement between mean damage estimates at the urban scale, despite significant scattering at the single building scale, and uncertainty levels which vary significantly from one method to the other. For a given scenario, the three methods provide damage estimates lying within half an EMS damage degree of one another, with some systematic positive bias for VULNERALP and negative bias for RISK-UE LM1, especially for masonry buildings. The expected mean damage is very important for intensities 9 and 10, with an average damage grade around 3–4 for intensity 9 and 4–5 for intensity 10. The spatial distribution of damage systematically exhibits larger values in the northern, older, commercial area, than in the southern, more recent and more residential area, in relation to the building typology and the existence of several aggravating factors. Some areas of higher vulnerability / damage can be distinguished, which should receive particular attention for retrofitting priorities or urban planning decisions, also taking into account their cultural heritage value.