Stochastic approach for analytical fragility curves

• Published in: KSCE journal of civil engineering Vol. 12; no. 5; pp. 305 - 312
• Main Authors: Marano, Giuseppe Carlo, Greco, Rita, Mezzina, Mauro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Korean Society of Civil Engineers 01.09.2008; Springer Nature B.V; 대한토목학회
• Subjects: Analytical methods; Civil Engineering; Damage; Earthquake damage; Engineering; Fragility; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Industrial Pollution Prevention; Probability theory; Seismic analysis; Seismic response; Stochastic processes; Stochasticity; Studies; Vulnerability; 토목공학; crossings theory; fragility analysis; stochastic process
• ISSN: 1226-7988; 1976-3808
• DOI: 10.1007/s12205-008-0305-8

One of the main problems is the assessment of “residual reliability” or “vulnerability” of a single existing structure, or of a given class of similar structures, against seismic actions. The fragility curves describe the probability of a structure to suffer a given damage level when it is subject to a given seismic excitation level. This research work is focused on an analytical method for constructing fragility curves of existing structures based on a stochastic approach. Analysed structure is modelled by a simple one degree of freedom system subject to a nonstationary Kanai-Tajimi process. The numerical values of the parameters of its constitutive law, here suitably described by means of a hysteretic model, are selected using an identification procedure with the non linear pushover analysis performed on the real assessed structure. To develop fragility curves, a displacement based damage index is adopted. Fragility curves are obtained in terms of probability of exceeding a given damage level by using an approximate crossings theory of stochastic processes.