Vulnerability assessment for buildings exposed to torrential hazards at Sichuan-Tibet transportation corridor

Abstract

The construction and operation of the Sichuan-Tibet railway require constructing extensive supporting facilities along its route. Sichuan-Tibet transportation corridor features high mountains and deep valleys where land resources suitable for such purposes are very limited. As a result, safe utilization of the torrential fan along the railway becomes essential. Focus on buildings at the torrential fan, this paper aims to develop a vulnerability model that can assess their maximum potential damage and support the planning and development of the torrential fan. The model was developed based on 51 building damage data collected at 11 torrential fans. The hazard intensity was defined by the geometric configuration of torrential fans and the location of assessed buildings. In addition, a physical experiment was carried out to study the shielding effect of building groups. The results show that the shielding effect range is about 25 times the building size, and the maximum reduction in impact force can reach 60%. The advantage of the proposed vulnerability assessment model is that it only requires the spatial information of the site that can be easily derived from the satellite image. In addition, the model can reflect the complex torrential process and the shielding effect of building groups. This study provides an alternative approach to building vulnerability assessment. It supports the planning and development of torrential fans when constructing the supporting facilities for the railway construction and operation.