Suitability of Current Assessment Techniques to Retrodict the Seismic Damage of Buildings: A Case Study in Van, Turkey

• Published in: The open civil engineering journal 2015-05, Vol.9 (1), p.330-343
• Main Authors: Popa, Viorel, Văcăreanu, Radu, Oprisoreanu, Vasile, Albotă, Emil, Köber, Dietlinde
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1874-1495; 1874-1495
• DOI: 10.2174/1874149501509010330

Two strong earthquakes hit the region of Van (Turkey) in 2012, generating major losses. A large part of the building stock was damaged causing the evacuation of the residents. A post-earthquake investigation team dispatched by the UNESCO through the IPRED platform, six month after the earthquakes, observed the damage state in some still standing buildings. Ten buildings having different structural characteristics were observed. Slight structural damage and severe non-structural damage were observed in three multi-storey apartment buildings, being evacuated at the time of the investigation. Despite the slight structural damage, two multi-storey reinforced concrete shear wall buildings were listed for demolition based on the results of the post-earthquake rapid assessment. These two buildings were recently built based on modern seismic design regulations. The design blueprints were available to the investigation team with the support of the local community of Van. Various rapid post-earthquake investigation techniques applied by the investigation team generated contradictory results. A comprehensive seismic assessment was carried out to retrodict the observed seismic damage. Various methods were applied starting from simple rapid assessment techniques to more elaborated structural analysis based on nonlinear dynamic procedure. In the latter case, strength and stiffness degrading hysteretic models were applied and the non-structural masonry walls were considered in the analytical model. This paper presents the results of these structural analyses in comparison with the observed damage on site. Conclusions regarding the suitability of the applied seismic assessment techniques to retrodict the damage level of the investigated structures are drawn. Some findings of the post-earthquake investigation team are presented as well.