Novelli, VI; (2017) Hybrid Method for the Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Historic Masonry City Centres. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Buildings in historical city centres are particularly vulnerable to seismic events, as observed from past earthquakes in Bhuj (India, 2001), Bam (Iran, 2003), Sichuan (China 2008), L’Aquila (Italy 2009), Gorkha (Nepal 2015), and most recently in Amatrice (Italy 2016). To reduce damage and loss in historic city centres, seismic vulnerability of buildings should be assessed on site with approaches that take into account how parameters related to geometric/structural features, deficiencies and seismic damage impact on seismic failure modes. Currently, an approach that investigates all these parameters in only one consistent procedure for the identification of failure modes is not available, although, there are numerous methods developed to evaluate the seismic vulnerability. This dissertation aims to tackle such a gap by developing a hybrid approach that investigates causes of failure modes through an analytical method and effects of failure modes through a visual inspection tool. The analytical method proposed in the hybrid approach is FaMIVE (Failure Mechanism Identification and Vulnerability Evaluation method), mechanical method that estimates failure modes, capacity and fragility curves by taking into account geometric/structural features and deficiencies of buildings. The second method is LOG-IDEAH (LOGic trees for Identification of Damage due to Earthquakes for Architectural Heritage) web knowledge based system that complements FaMIVE by estimating failure modes through engineering judgements codified in rules developed to interpret seismic damage observed on buildings. The hybrid approach is validated on the city centres of L’Aquila (Italy) damaged by the earthquake in 2009, characterised by typical historic masonry houses. Through the application, the thesis provides a validation approach that is used to refine the framework of the proposed hybrid method and to provide guidance for those facing the challenge of assessing the seismic vulnerability of historic city centres.

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