Developments in the field of earthquake engineering over the past few decades have contributed to the development of new methods for evaluating the risk levels in buildings. These research methods are rapid visual screening (RVS), seismic risk indexes, and vulnerability assessments, which have been developed to assess the levels of damage in a building or its structural components. RVS methods have been proposed for the rapid pre- and/or post-earthquake screening of existing large building stock in earthquake-prone areas on the basis of sidewalk surveys. The site seismicity, the soil type, the building type, and the corresponding building characteristic features are to be separately examined, and the vulnerability level of each building can be identified by employing the RVS methods. This study describes, evaluates, and compares the findings of previous investigations that utilized conventional RVS methods within a framework. It also suggests the methods to be used for specific goals and proposes prospective enhancement strategies. Furthermore, the article discusses the time-consuming RVS methods (such as FEMA 154, which requires from 15 to 30 min, while NRCC requires one hour), and provides an overview of the application areas of the methods (pre-earthquake: FEMA 154, NRCC, NZEE, etc.; postearthquake: GNDT, EMS, etc.). This review of the traditional RVS methods offers a comprehensive guide and reference for field practitioners (e.g., engineers, architects), and recommends enhancement techniques (e.g., machine learning, fuzzy logic) for researchers to be used in future improvements.
In order to prevent possible loss of life and property, existing building stocks need to be assessed before an impending earthquake. Beyond the examination of large building stocks, rapid evaluation methods are required because the evaluation of even one building utilizing detailed vulnerability assessment methods is computationally expensive. Rapid visual screening (RVS) methods are used to screen and classify existing buildings in large building stocks in earthquake-prone zones prior to or after a catastrophic earthquake. Buildings are assessed using RVS procedures that take into consideration the distinctive features (such as irregularity, construction year, construction quality, and soil type) of each building, which each need to be considered separately. Substantially, studies have been presented to enhance conventional RVS methods in terms of truly identifying building safety levels by using computer algorithms (such as machine learning, fuzzy logic, and neural networks). This study outlines the background research that was conducted in order to establish the parameters for the development of a fuzzy logic-based soft rapid visual screening (S-RVS) method as an alternative to conventional RVS methods. In this investigation, rules, membership functions, transformation values, and defuzzification procedures were established by examining the data of 40 unreinforced masonries (URM) buildings acquired as a consequence of the 2019 Albania earthquake in order to construct a fuzzy logic-based S-RVS method.
The process of carrying out an earthquake risk assessment of a town can provide important data for authorities and disaster management to better understand risks to many buildings rather than a single building. This is even more important in the case of moderate seismic areas where any mitigation measures to be taken should be justified by seismic risk determination. Moderate seismicity does not necessarily equate to moderate damage from earthquakes. Vulnerability to earthquakes even increases with extending urban areas. Seismicity in the Pannonian Basin is moderate compared to seismicity of surrounding areas, nonetheless, reports of major earthquakes in Hungary often refer to heavy building damage and liquefaction (e.g. 1763 Komarom earthquake). Gyor was chosen to be the examined area for seismic risk analysis because it is the most important city of northwest Hungary with a large number of monumental buildings and a complex geological and geographical settings. In order to make the best use of limited resources usually characteristic to moderate seismic zones, the presented method used existing soil data, rapid visual screening of buildings, a limited number of field tests and free, but sophisticated, software. This paper focuses on the results of vulnerability analysis of buildings; however, it considers the results of seismic hazard and local site effects based on response analysis with more than 6000 realizations. Vulnerability of the buildings with different structural types were evaluated based on a rapid visual screening of 5000 building. Vulnerability based on visual screening was compared to a pushover analysis of the typical constructions. As one would expect, since the hazards and vulnerabilities were not uniformly distributed in the city districts of Gyor, there were zones of higher and lower risk. These results can then serve as useful tools for decision makers and can be applied directly to risk management plans.
Assessment and management of earthquake risk requires several disciplines and different aspects to evaluate. Based on mathematical calculations, risk is the product of hazard and vulnerability. Considering earthquakes, the process of risk evaluation consists of several steps performed in parallel. One line of the research deals with the seismicity of the area by identifying potential sources, usually along fault systems, for probabilistic hazard assessment. The next step focuses on the simulation of strong ground motions for regional hazard assessment. Ground motion attenuation models are calibrated based on observed strong motion recordings and on theoretical computations taking into account realistic models for wave propagation as well as possible seismic source zones. Further research takes into account local site effects and will result in a microzonation for the evaluated area based on local soil conditions and field testing of the soil properties. Another line of research focuses on the built environment. This paper presents the case study for the city of Győr, focusing on the seismic hazard assessment of the typical soil types along the Danube. Extensive use of historical boring logs allowed for correlations and reasonable extrapolation of soil performance throughout the area. This has led to a pattern of soil layer distributions and delineates of several different soil zones for Győr. Compared to more simplified profile standards from building codes, it can be clearly seen that the different levels of hazard concerning Győr are apparent, even though almost all of the region belongs to soil category C based on EC8.
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