Abstract
Rapid visual screening is a quick and simple approach often used by researchers to estimate the seismic vulnerability of buildings in an area. In this study, preliminary seismic vulnerability assessment of 500 buildings situated at Northern and Eastern George Town, Malaysia, was carried out by utilizing a modified FEMA-154 (2002) method that suits Malaysian conditions. Data were collected from online sources via Google Maps and Google Earth instead of traditional surveying data collection through street screening. The seismic assessment analysis of this study was based on the RVS performance score and the damage state classification for each building typology. This approach generates, for each building, a final performance score based on governing parameters such as structural resisting system, height, structural irregularities, building age, and soil type. The findings revealed the immediate need for effective seismic mitigation strategies, as 90% of the studied buildings required a further detailed analyses to pinpoint their exact seismic vulnerability performance. Most of the surveyed buildings were predicted to experience moderate-to-substantial damage, with 220 out of 500 being classed as damage state 2 (D2) and damage state 3 (D3). A GIS map, “RVS Malaysian Form-George Town Area”, was generated via ArcGIS and shared with the public to provide vital information for further research.
Highlights
The fuzzy-logic-based rapid visual screening (RVS) (FLRVS) proposed a probabilistic reasoning method that treats the structural properties of a building holistically and generates a score indicating the potential for damage in the case of severe earthquakes delivering ground accelerations approximately equal to those specified by the applicable codes [51]
This approach is divided into two phases: the surveying phase, which is dependent on structural and non-structural data; the number of occupancies, emergency preparation, and peak ground acceleration of a specific site are all considered in this technique
A review of previous seismic-vulnerability-related studies in the Malaysian context shows that there is insufficient information on preliminary seismic vulnerability assessment of existing buildings. To fill this gap in understanding, this work performed preliminary seismic vulnerability assessment in George Town, Penang Island to provide a quantitative tool for the government to decide if, and how much, remedial work is required in a particular district [37]
Summary
Earthquake events affect the buildings in urban areas drastically, causing extensive structural damage and the loss of lives around the world [1]. The analytical method is considered a precise method in assessing the seismic vulnerability of buildings; it is considered hard to conduct a computational model when analysing a large number of buildings and their structural characteristics and components. Rapid visual screening (RVS) is a method to estimate the seismic vulnerability of a large number of structures in a city It is based on correlations between the buildings’ predicted seismic performance and the structural typology (frame, shear wall, masonry, infills) [33]. The assessment of earthquake resilience in a community can be achieved using a variety of fragility-based seismic vulnerability models that incorporate probabilistic building performance limit states [38,39,40,41]. The use of rapid visual screening (RVS) for preliminary vulnerability assessment can help in assigning appropriate vulnerability classes to buildings, which in turn would help in managing and implementing strategies for the safety of communities
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