Abstract

A method and a computational tool oriented to assist the damage and safety evaluation of buildings after strong earthquakes is described in this article. The input of the model is the subjective and incomplete information on the building state, obtained by inspectors which are possibly not expert professionals of the field of building safety. The damage levels of the structural components are usually described by linguistic qualifications which can be adequately processed by computational intelligence techniques based on neuro-fuzzy systems what facilitate the complex and urgent tasks of engineering decision-making on the building occupancy after a seismic disaster. The hybrid neuro-fuzzy system used is based on a special three-layer feedforward artificial neural network and fuzzy rule bases and is an effective
tool during the emergency response phase providing decisions about safety, habitability, and reparability of the buildings. Examples of application of the computer program are given for two different building classes.

Abstract

The main objective of this monograph is to evaluate the overall damage index of framed reinforced concrete structures using different models. In order to achieve this objective it is necessary to identify the parameters that most influence the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete buildings and to propose alternatives for the calculation of some of them. In this context, procedures for calculating variables such as the yielding curvature due to inelastic shear are indicated. The methods for assessing the seismic damage in framed reinforced concrete structures are analyzed, and the correlation between the results obtained with different models in several structures with different reinforcement is studied. Based on this analysis, a simplified methodology for evaluating seismic damage using a global (or overall) index is proposed. The seismic action in most damage evaluation methods is defined by means of accelerograms. Very few methods calculate the damage defining the action by means of response spectra. Although there is no theoretical justification for the possibility of using modal analysis in the context of inelastic analysis, in the seismic analysis of structures this type of calculation is included in all seismic design regulations in the world. The proposed calculation method uses response spectra, is easy to use, can be applied to any type of earthquake, determines the zones that are going to enter into the non-linear range, the maximum lateral displacement that is expected and indicates the overall damage index of the structure.