Successive Earthquake-Tsunami Analysis to Develop Collapse Fragilities

Abstract

Over the last half century, scientists and engineers have developed methods to better understand and mitigate the damage caused by tsunamis. According to U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) P646, buildings in many regions, including the U.S. Pacific Northwest, will experience substantial ground shaking from an offshore earthquake that precedes a tsunami and then experience the tsunami forces themselves. Thus, both hazards should be considered in computing the damage and collapse risk to buildings. This article summarizes a basic approach to numerically consider the successive seismic and tsunami risk to buildings in near-field tsunami regions such as the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Keywords:

• Fragility Curve
• Hysteresis Model
• Tsunami
• Earthquake
• Collapse

Acknowledgments

The material presented in this article is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI-0830378 (NEES Research) and CMMI-0402490 (NEES Operations). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.