The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Damageability in existing buildings

Blejwas, Thomas E.; Bresler, Boris

UCB/EERC-78/12, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1978, 86 pages (555.5/B54/1979)

Relative hazard is evaluated by a method based on the concept of damageability, where damageability is defined as the level of damage that would occur to a building if it were exposed to a single natural hazard or a series of such hazards. The procedure developed in this paper comprises three evaluations. First, a structural response analysis is conducted; for seismic response analysis, a variation on available elastoplastic or piecewise-linear analyses is developed. The damageability of a structure is then defined as a function of intensity of exposure; for seismic damageability, generalized displacement, or base shear may be used as a measure of intensity. Local damageability indices, determined for elements throughout the structure, are combined to form a global damageability index, i.e., an index that represents the damageability of the structure as a whole. Finally, seismic damageability of the structure is related to potential earthquake demand by inelastic response spectra. The force-displacement relationship for the equivalent single degree of freedom system assumed for the quasistatic response analysis is compared to inelastic force-displacement curves from inelastic response spectra. The level of response for this equivalent system that corresponds to the particular spectrum is estimated. A third damageability index, cumulative damageability, is defined as a measure of cumulative damage to a structure from previous loadings, such as earthquake or fire loads.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-78-12.pdf (6 MB)