Resilience Strategy After 2016 Central Italy Earthquake in Historical Centres: Seismic Vulnerability Assessment Method of Traditional Masonry Buildings

Author(s):  
L. Bernabei ◽  
R. Gulli ◽  
G. Mochi ◽  
G. Predari
Rivista Tema ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (N.2 (2021)) ◽  
Author(s):  

An important portion of the historical built environment, which is characterized by un-reinforced masonry, is particularly vulnerable to collapse in case of earthquakes, as demonstrated by recent events. Strategies to target the facades of the most vulnerable buildings need to be tailored for retrofitting and emergency planning. In this research, a novel expeditious vulnerability assessment method, particularly suitable for historical masonry aggregates, is proposed. The method allows assessing the vulnerability index based on information available from external surveys on the building, thus facilitating and speeding up the investigation. If other more precise information (e.g., curbs and tie rods effectiveness) is available, the vulnerability estimation can be improved. The method focuses on out-of-plane mechanisms of the facade, which cause debris to fall on adjacent streets, impeding emergency response. The expeditious method is tailored starting from analytical methods applied on a large sample of historical buildings hit by earthquakes, and validated by means of comparison with kinematic analysis and observed damage state on a relevant case study, Caldarola (Macerata, Central Italy, which was struck by the earthquake in 2016). Results show a good agreement between the proposed method, the kinematic analysis, and the observed damage state of the considered case study, with 75% and 87.5% correspondence, and the method is especially precise for evaluating highly damaged facades.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian R Escudero ◽  
Alejandro Ramirez Gaytan ◽  
Araceli Zamora Camacho ◽  
Adolfo Preciado ◽  
Karen L. Flores ◽  
...  

Abstract We performed a seismic vulnerability assessment that involves geotechnical and building structure analysis for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a city located along the pacific coast. Like many other Latin American cities, has significant seismic risk. We implemented the multi-channel analysis of surface waves and the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio methods to estimate shear wave velocity and soil resonance frequency. We considered standard penetration test to determine the penetration resistance and soil classification. We also defined building typologies based on construction materials and structural systems. The VS30 parameter shows that Puerto Vallarta has the three poorest soil classifications. The resonance frequency parameter shows four zones with different fundamental soil periods. We inferred the building's vulnerability from the coupling between the structural and soil fundamental period and the soil characteristics. The analysis shows several vulnerable buildings scatters within the city, e.g., within the tourist area, confined masonry buildings from one to five stories and moment resistance frame buildings up to 12 in the tourist area, poorly confined masonry houses of one to two stories, and confined masonry buildings of one to five stories in the residential/commercial. We present an approach that combines the academic and government to solve a real and transcendental problem since it might directly affect the regulation and structure evaluations in the area. We are sure that these exercises are of great interest in urban growth areas in other parts of the world, especially in Latin America, to achieve seismic risk mitigation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (18) ◽  
pp. 6411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Harirchian ◽  
Kirti Jadhav ◽  
Kifaytullah Mohammad ◽  
Seyed Ehsan Aghakouchaki Hosseini ◽  
Tom Lahmer

Recently, the demand for residence and usage of urban infrastructure has been increased, thereby resulting in the elevation of risk levels of human lives over natural calamities. The occupancy demand has rapidly increased the construction rate, whereas the inadequate design of structures prone to more vulnerability. Buildings constructed before the development of seismic codes have an additional susceptibility to earthquake vibrations. The structural collapse causes an economic loss as well as setbacks for human lives. An application of different theoretical methods to analyze the structural behavior is expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, introducing a rapid vulnerability assessment method to check structural performances is necessary for future developments. The process, as mentioned earlier, is known as Rapid Visual Screening (RVS). This technique has been generated to identify, inventory, and screen structures that are potentially hazardous. Sometimes, poor construction quality does not provide some of the required parameters; in this case, the RVS process turns into a tedious scenario. Hence, to tackle such a situation, multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods for the seismic vulnerability assessment opens a new gateway. The different parameters required by RVS can be taken in MCDM. MCDM evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision making in several fields. This paper has aimed to bridge the gap between RVS and MCDM. Furthermore, to define the correlation between these techniques, implementation of the methodologies from Indian, Turkish, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) codes has been done. The effects of seismic vulnerability of structures have been observed and compared.


2014 ◽  
Vol 628 ◽  
pp. 49-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Ripepe ◽  
Giorgio Lacanna ◽  
Pauline Deguy ◽  
Mario de Stefano ◽  
Valentina Mariani ◽  
...  

The seismic vulnerability assessment of a building requires a comprehensive knowledge of both building structural features and soils geophysical parameters. To achieve a vulnerability assessment at the urban scale a large amount of data would be necessary, with a consequent involvement of time and economical resources. The aim of this paper is hence to propose a simplified procedure to evaluate the seismic vulnerability of urban centres and possible seismic damage scenarios in order to identify critical areas and/or building typologies to plan future actions of seismic risk mitigation and prevention. The procedure is applied to the outstanding case study of the city of Florence. The research is based on the definition of major building typologies related to construction periods and type of the structural system (masonry or reinforced concrete), the identification of a set of sample buildings, the analysis of the dynamic behaviour and the evaluation of a vulnerability index with an expeditious approach. The obtained results allow to define potential vulnerability and post-event damage scenarios related to the expected levels of peak ground acceleration.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document