| Abstract: | Current projections indicate that six buildings per year will continue to be instrumented under the California Strong-Motion Instrumentation Program for the next several decades. In order to select these buildings systematically for instrumentation, we have developed a methodology that incorporates the fundamental elements of decision theory. These elements include an identification of the types of buildings that should be instrumented, a definition of the expected severity of ground shaking at each possible building site along with the probability of occurrence, and a quantification of the relative value of obtaining a building-response record for each building type. Using this information, we can apply decision theory to calculate the expected utility (degree of preference) of instrumenting buildings of a particular type at various sites. The sites are then ranked in order of preference for each building type. This procedure, developed for the California Strong-Motion Instrumentation Program, can be extended to instrumentation programs in other areas. |
