Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Building For Retrofitting Strategies: Simplified Vulnerability Assessment

In India, 85% of existing buildings are unreinforced masonry and 5-7% are reinforced concrete and 5-7% are traditional buildings. And most buildings do not qualify to resist earthquakes, technically it can be said that they would not be able to resist earthquake loads. In the past, it is seen at the time of the earthquake, millions of lives and the economy of that region is affected. Demolition of ageing building mass is not only harmful to the environment but also it is not viable economically to rebuild all vulnerable buildings. Such buildings are recommended to be retrofitted. Recent earthquakes have demonstrated the need to identify and improve the performance of the existing seismic deficient buildings. For this reason, Seismic vulnerability assessment is considered a part of a better strategy to mitigate the risk and improve the resiliency of the country and its infrastructure. Due to the high volume of building archetypes in our country, for Seismic Vulnerability Assessment at a huge scale, a rapid, simplified method is being adopted that can facilitate the assessment procedure in a lesser computational time period. This paper was primarily engrossed in the analysis of some simplified methods proposed in the literature for assessing the simplified seismic vulnerability. A hypothetical building is analyzed using structural software (Etabs) by Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis Procedure. Using Etabs software, various structural parameters like Story Response Drift, Displacement (max) and Base Shear are considered and discussed. By proper interpretation of the result, a suitable measure to minimize vulnerability and ensure sustainability and cost-effectiveness, retrofitting strategies is recommended. Keywords: Seismic vulnerability, Existing Building, Simplified Analytical Method, Rapid Visual Screening, Detailed vulnerability assessment, Etabs, Non-linear Dynamic Analysis, Retrofitting Strategies