Papers by Keyword: Damage Assessment

Abstract: To evaluate the damage level of steel structure under different earthquakes, a kind of vulnerability analysis method based on seismic damage assessment was developed using the improved two-parameter damage model which was proposed by considering the effect of hysteretic deformation amplitude to accumulative damage energy dissipation. This method is firstly to establish large samples of earthquake-structure, conduct a series of dynamic analysis to obtain the probability function of structural response and bearing capacity corresponding to different damage states, and then to draw the vulnerability curves and evaluate the damage state of the structure under different earthquake intensity. As a numerical example, a 9-story steel benchmark structure model under strong earthquakes was analyzed, and the theoretical vulnerability curves with lognormal distribution were obtained and the exceeding probability of structure at different damage level had been assessed.

Abstract: Accurately and quickly evaluate the damage of high-rise buildings can effectively reduce economic losses and speed up the reconstruction of the earthquake region. Based on monitoring data and numerical simulation, this paper proposed a method to evaluate the damage of high-rise structures suffered earthquakes. Taking a frame-tube structure as example, the method’s availability is verified. The results can coincide well with the experimental phenomenon and the fuzzy evaluation results based on the monitoring data. This method can accurately and effectively evaluate the general damage degree of high-rise structures post-earthquake.

Abstract: Underground construction will inevitably disturb the surrounding rock and soil, thus endanger the safety of underground pipelines nearby. This paper has established the damage assessment of underground pipelines resulting from underground excavation. Based on GIS platform, it also has developed the damage assessment of underground pipelines and protection decision-making system. The extent of the excavation disturbance is determined through the prediction of the sinking value of the overlying soil caused by underground excavation. The stress and strain leading to deformation of the pipeline were analyzed using numerical simulation. The damage assessment for underground pipelines according to both macro and micro aspects was suggested to provide technical support during excavation of underground engineering disaster prevention and mitigation.

Abstract: After the occurrence of significant natural disaster, the resulting damaged roads interrupt the rapid emergency response for disaster, and therefore, the disaster relief department is desperate for the destruction condition of roads in the devastated region, which can help make relief decisions and deploy rescue actions. In view of the practical needs of the disaster relief department and the objective fact that at present there is not any special, high automatic damage detection system of roads, we develop Road Damage Detection and Evaluation System (RODDES). Using the basic road data in GIS (Geographical information system) as the prior knowledge, the system extracts the pre-disaster and post-disaster roads from post-disaster remotely sensed imageries, and then detects the damaged regions and evaluates the destruction condition. This paper emphasizes the overall design of the system and the submodule design and their functions. The system is applied in detecting and evaluating the damaged roads in Wenchuan County, China and the experiment results show that nearly all producer’s and user’s accuracies of the road extractions and damage detections are above 75%, and it accurately evaluates the destruction condition of roads.

Abstract: The static stability capacity is the main index to measure the whole mechanical performance of single-layer latticed shells. Three single-layer cylindrical latticed shells with different height to span ratio were modeled, and their seismic damage were assessed by the degradation of static stability capacity incurred by earthquakes. Two different static load patterns were considered: dead load and the combination of dead load and half span live load. The results show that the damage assessment method is applicable to single-layer cylindrical latticed shells, and the static load patterns have no big influence on the damage assessment of the single-layer cylindrical latticed shells.

Abstract: This paper presents a new method for the damage localization and severity estimate for lattice material based on substructure modal energy. The significant advantage associated with new method over traditional modal energy methods is that the spatially complete mode shape isn’t needed. Additionally, the new method does not require the analytical and measured modes to be consistent in scale, or to be normalized. Numerical studies in this paper are conducted for lattice material based on synthetic data generated from finite element models.

Abstract: The church of S.Agostino in L’Aquila was built at the beginning of XVIII century, replacing an older church collapsed during the strong earthquake of 1703. The building has a central layout. During April 6th earthquake, it suffered many damage. The lantern collapsed. Severe cracks concerned the hall-drum-dome elliptical system, the apse and the bell tower. Moreover, the façade was subjected to an overturning mechanism. The elliptical layout of the building induced a mainly longitudinal seismic response. In the paper, a extensive description of the damage is provided. Moreover, the seismic behavior of the church is discussed on the basis of observation of damage and vulnerability features of the structure. A correlation between damage, vulnerability and seismic actions is finally proposed.

Abstract: The Pisco earthquake of August 15, 2007 resulted in 519 deaths and 1366 injured, with a total of 650,000 people affected and 80,000 dwellings damaged. Preliminary reports indicated that significant earthen sites were damaged. A few months after the earthquake a rapid assessment to better understand the failure of the affected sites was performed by a multidisciplinary team convened by the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in response to a request from the Instituto Nacional de Cultura del Perú (INC). This paper presents the highlights of that evaluation and its implications for the future design and retrofit of earthen buildings.

Abstract: The architectural heritage is subjected to various risk factors like the lack of maintenance, the material decay and the external solicitations. Nowadays, due to the ever-increasing demand for urban space, a relevant cause of structural damage that the historical buildings experience is the ground settlement due to excavation works. In the city of Amsterdam, for example, the construction of the new North-South metro line will involve an area characterized by the presence of many ancient masonry buildings. A fundamental phase of the design of this kind of projects is the assessment of the risk of subsidence which can affect the existing structures. The actual method to perform this assessment provides for a preliminary screening of the buildings located in the area surrounding the excavation, in order to evaluate which structures are at risk of settlement induced damage. It is based on the simplification of the building as a linear elastic beam and the assumption of the absence of interaction between the soil and the structure. An improved classification system should take into account the main parameters which influence the structural response, like the nonlinear behaviour of the building and the role played by the foundation in the soil-structure interaction. In this paper, the effect on the damage mechanism of the excavation advance and the location of the tunnel with respect to the building is evaluated. Numerical analyses are performed in order to understand the effect of different settlement profiles of the ground. A coupled model of the structure and the soil is evaluated, taking into account a damage model for the masonry building and the nonlinear behaviour of the soil-structure interaction. This paper demonstrates the importance of 3D modelling; neglecting the tunnel advance can lead to an underestimation of the damage.

Abstract: Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is of paramount importance in an increasing number of applications, not only to ensure safety and reliability, but also to reduce NDT costs and to ensure timely maintenance of critical components. This paper overviews the modern applications of acoustic emission (AE), which has become established as a very powerful technique for monitoring damage in a variety of structures, and the new approaches that have enabled the successful application of the technique, leading to automated crack detection. Examples are drawn from a variety of industries to provide an insight into the current role of AE in structural health monitoring.