The Use of a Large-Scale Seismic Vulnerability Assessment Approach for Masonry Façade Walls as an Effective Tool for Evaluating, Managing and Mitigating Seismic Risk in Historical Centers

ABSTRACT

The vulnerability assessment of the building stock in a given territorial area, such as a city or an entire country, is a key prerequisite for evaluating risk, not only because of the potential physical consequences resulting from the occurrence of an event, but also because it is one of the few aspects in which engineering research can intervene. In fact, the rigorous vulnerability assessment of existing buildings followed by the implementation of appropriate retrofitting solutions can help to substantially reduce the levels of physical damage and economic impact of future events. Particularly regarding the seismic vulnerability assessment of historical centers, the amount of knowledge that has been accumulated over the past decades, together with the broad damage data obtained from post-earthquake damage surveys, provides a singular opportunity to develop and calibrate innovative large-scale seismic vulnerability assessment approaches, which can be used to outline and support risk mitigation and management strategies. This article addresses this issue by discussing the use of a large-scale seismic vulnerability assessment methodology for masonry façade walls as a tool for evaluating the potential benefit resulting from the application of different seismic retrofitting strategies, both considering their contribution to reduce post-event urban losses and accessibility.

KEYWORDS:

• earthquake evacuation
• historical centers
• large-scale assessment
• retrofitting strategies
• risk mitigation
• seismic vulnerability

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Prof. Romeu Vicente, from University of Aveiro, for their contribution to the work, namely for having made available the dataset of information mentioned in “ Description of the case study, ” and to the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, which have greatly contributed to improve the overall quality of the work.

Additional information

Funding

The work presented in this article was supported by the European Union within the framework of the Erasmus Mundus Advanced Master in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions (SAHC) and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the postdoctoral fellowship SFRH/BPD/122598/2016