Modifications on Seismic Damage Assessment System of TCIP Based on Reparability

Abstract

Evaluating the damage state of buildings has always been one of the major challenges that both engineers and authorities face after catastrophic earthquakes in seismic regions. After such events, considering the number of buildings in need of inspection and the insufficient number of qualified inspectors, the availability of a thorough but rapidly applicable damage assessment method is vitally important. An assessment system serving this purpose was developed for the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP, known as DASK in Turkey) at the beginning of the new millennia to evaluate the damages in reinforced concrete (RC) and masonry structures. The assessment system assigns a damage state (related with a damage modifier for the capacity loss) to each vertical structural member (columns and shear walls) based on the observed residual damages, such as crack width, concrete crushing, cover spalling and buckling of reinforcement. Beam damages are also taken into account in a similar way. After that, the weighted damage percentage (WDP) is calculated by taking into account the damage state and the cross-sectional area of each vertical member and the number of heavily damaged horizontal members. Since its development, this assessment method has been used by TCIP to decide the indemnities (and somehow future) of damaged structures to be either ‘repaired’ (partial indemnity) or ‘demolished’ (full indemnity) after earthquakes that took place in Turkey. In recent years, the number of scientific studies in regard to the concept of reparability of damaged structures, which is a determining parameter in buildings’ future decisions after seismic events, is increased. Consequently, TCIP initiated a research project to adjust the damage assessment method with the conclusions of up-to-date state-of-the-art scientific research. This paper presents the followed methodology and brief results of different phases of the project. In order to propose modifications for the current method, firstly, an experimental database was established focusing on the performance of damaged structural members. The database was used to validate/revise the member damage modifier parameters. Secondly, in order to define a reparability limit in terms of the building WDP value, a literature survey investigating the fundamental mechanical characteristics (such as stiffness, strength and ductility) that can be used to define the seismic behavior of damaged, and damaged-and-repaired structural members was performed. These mechanical characteristics were then used in a series of nonlinear structural analyses on typical buildings representing the common typologies of buildings in Turkey. The analyses covered the undamaged, damaged and damaged-and-repaired cases in order to determine the damage state/level where the cost of the repair applications become unfeasible or the seismic performance of the repaired structure deviates considerably from that of its undamaged state. Finally, by comparing the seismic performances of undamaged, and damaged-and-repaired cases together with the repair costs, new threshold values were proposed for WDP for different damage levels (and indemnity decisions). © The 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering.