Abstract
Understanding the seismic vulnerability of building structures is important for seismic engineers, building owners, risk insurers and governments. Seismic vulnerability defines a buildings predisposition to be damaged as a result of an earthquake of a given severity. There are two components to seismic risk; the seismic hazard and the exposure of the structural inventory to any given earthquake event. This paper demonstrates the development of fragility curves at different damage states using a detailed mechanical model of a moment resisting reinforced concrete structure typical of Southern Europe. The mechanical model consists of a complex three-dimensional finite element model of the reinforced concrete moment resisting frame structure and is used to define the damage states through pushover analysis. Fragility curves are also defined using the HAZUS macro-seismic methodology and the Risk-UE macro-seismic methodology. Comparison of the mechanically modelled and HAZUS fragility curve shows good agreement while the Risk-UE methodology shows reasonably poor agreement.
Highlights
Seismic risk of the built environment comprises of the earthquake hazard and the exposure of the built environment to earthquake damage
This paper has presented three different approaches to derive damage limits for a code designed reinforced concrete moment resisting frame structure
From this curve damage limits were obtained by: Visual observation of the crack patterns based on the HAZUS (1999) damage scale description (CRA); A mechanical approach based on the energy of the pushover curve and equivalent elasto-plastic SDOF curve (RMA)
Summary
Seismic risk of the built environment comprises of the earthquake hazard and the exposure of the built environment to earthquake damage. To assess the exposure of a built area to seismic damage a macro-seismic vulnerability method has been classically used [4] This approach, based on observed and statistically analysed damage, classifies the existing building stocks in terms of structural typology, material and design code level. The height ( the period of vibration), construction type e.g. steel/reinforced concrete and date of construction i.e. whether seismic design codes were used or not, are the only parameters taken into consideration This is understandable, coming from a city planning or catastrophe risk insurance point of view where detailed classification of building stock is limited. This project aims to provide some physically modelled seismic structural response data to aid validation of the fragility curves achieved through statistical methodologies
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