Post-earthquake assessment of buildings using displacement and acceleration response

Abstract

After an earthquake, a quick seismic assessment of a structure can facilitate the recovery of operations, and consequently, improve structural resilience. Especially for facilities that play a key role in rescue or refuge efforts (e.g., hospitals and power facilities), or even economically important facilities (e.g., high-tech factories and financial centers), immediately resuming operations after disruptions resulting from an earthquake is critical. Therefore, this study proposes a prompt postearthquake seismic evaluation method that uses displacement and acceleration measurements taken from real structural responses that resulted during an earthquake. With a prepared pre-earthquake capacity curve of a structure, the residual seismic capacity can be estimated using the residual roof drift ratio and stiffness. The proposed method was verified using a 6-story steel frame structure on a shaking table. The structure was damaged during a moderate earthquake, after which it collapsed completely during a severe earthquake. According to the experimental results, a reasonable estimation of the residual seismic capacity of structures can be performed using the proposed post-earthquake seismic evaluation method.