A new approach to flood vulnerability assessment for historic buildings in England

Abstract

Abstract. The recent increase in frequency and severity of flooding in the UK has led to a shift in the perception of risk associated with flood hazards. This has extended to the conservation community, and the risks posed to historic structures that suffer from flooding are particularly concerning for those charged with preserving and maintaining such buildings. In order to fully appraise the risks in a manner appropriate to the complex issue of preservation, a new methodology is presented here that studies the nature of the vulnerability of such structures, and places it in the context of risk assessment, accounting for the vulnerable object and the subsequent exposure of that object to flood hazards. The testing of the methodology is carried out using three urban case studies and the results of the survey analysis provide guidance on the development of fragility curves for historic structures exposed to flooding. This occurs through appraisal of vulnerability indicators related to building form, structural and fabric integrity, and preservation of architectural and archaeological values. Key findings of the work include determining the applicability of these indicators to fragility analysis, and the determination of the relative vulnerability of the three case study sites.

Preface: Flood-risk analysis and integrated management

“…For a comprehensive risk analysis, insights into specific vulnerabilities are therefore needed but have received relatively little attention in the literature, so far. In their article, Stephenson and D'Ayala (2014) develop a new approach to evaluate the vulnerability of historic buildings in England, which has become a concern for those in charge of the preservation of the built cultural heritage. Also the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) requires member states in accordance with Article 2(2) to indicate the risk to cultural heritage in their hazard and risk maps.…”

A framework for the simplified risk analysis of cultural heritage assets

“…In such cases, vulnerability analyses often involve methodologies where simplified assumptions are made, e.g. see [33][34][35][36][37].…”

“…see [54][55][56]) or an indicator-based approach. For the cases of earthquake, flood, fire, hydro-meteorological, landslide and storm hazards, the procedures and data found in [57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70]33] can be used to define simplified indicator-based approaches suitable to estimate the expected level of damage. For the particular case of earthquake hazard, the authors have developed a set of simplified indicator -and mechanics -based procedures for specific types of cultural heritage units [71].…”

Stochastic Vulnerability Assessment of Masonry Structures: Concepts, Modeling and Restoration Aspects

“…Controlling the level of damage in a structure consists primarily in controlling its maximum response. Damage indices establish analytical relationships between the maximum and/or cumulative response of structural components and the level of damage they exhibit [38,[187][188][189][190][191]. A performance-based numerical methodology is possible if, through the use of damage indices, limits can be established to the maximum and cumulative response of the structure, as a function of the desired performance of the building for the different levels of the design ground motion.…”