• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.571-588
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• 2013

Many of the current buildings in Algeria were built in the past without any consideration to the requirements of the seismic code. Among these buildings, there are a large number of individual houses built in the 1980's by their owners. They are Reinforced Concrete (RC) frame structures with unreinforced hollow masonry infill walls. This buildings type experienced major damage in the 2003 (Algeria) earthquake, generated by deficiencies in the structural system. In the present study, special attention is placed upon examining the vulnerability of RC frame houses. Their situation and their general features are investigated. Observing their seismic behavior, structural deficiencies are identified. The seismic vulnerability of this type of buildings depends on several factors, such as; structural system, plan and vertical configuration, materials and workmanship. The results of the vulnerability assessment of a group of RC frame houses are presented. Using a method based on the European Macroseismic Scale EMS-98 definitions, presented in previous studies, distribution of damage is obtained.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.665-687
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• 2014

This paper presents a framework for analytical seismic vulnerability assessment of substandard reinforced concrete (RC) structures in developing countries. Amodified capacity-demand diagram method is used to predict the response of RC structures with degrading behaviour. A damage index based on period change is used to quantify the evolution of damage. To demonstrate the framework, a class of substandard RC buildings is examined. Abrupt accumulation of damage is observed due to the brittle failure modes and this is reflected in the developed vulnerability curves, which differ substantially from the curves of ductile structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.617-634
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• 2007

Algeria is a country with a high seismic activity. During the last decade, many destructive earthquakes occurred, particularly in the northern part, causing enormous losses in human lives, buildings and equipments. In order to reduce this risk in the capital and avoid serious damages to the strategic existing buildings, the government decided to invest into seismic upgrade, strengthening and retrofitting of these buildings. In doing so, seismic vulnerability study of this category of buildings has been considered. Structural analysis is performed on the basis of site investigation (inspection of the building, collecting data, materials, general conditions of the building, etc), and existing drawings (architectural plans, structural design, etc). The aim of these seismic vulnerability studies is to develop guidelines and a methodology for rehabilitation of existing buildings. This paper will provide insight to the vulnerability assessment and strengthening of the telecommunication centre, according to the new code RPA 99/version 2003. Both, static equivalent method and non linear dynamic analysis are performed in this study.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.25-48
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• 2023

The current article has explored the effect of productive capacities (as defined by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) and of structural economic vulnerability (as defined by the United Nations) on fiscal space volatility in developing countries. It relies on the definition and measure of fiscal space proposed by Aizenman and Jinjarak (2010; 2011) and Aizenman et al. (2019). To compute the indicator of fiscal space and hence that of fiscal space volatility, fiscal space is considered as the ratio of outstanding public debt to the 'de facto tax base', the latter being the number of years of tax revenues needed for a country to repay its debt. Results based on a sample of 116 countries from 2000 to 2018 have revealed that the enhancement of productive capacities is associated with lower fiscal space volatility, while higher structural economic vulnerability heightens fiscal space volatility. On another note, highly vulnerable countries tend to experience a higher negative effect of productive capacities on fiscal space volatility than relatively less vulnerable countries.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.323-335
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• 2017

A simplified framework for the probabilistic estimation of economic losses induced by the structural vulnerability in single-story and single-bay precast industrial buildings is presented. The simplifications introduced in the framework are oriented to the definition of an expeditious procedure adoptable by government agencies and insurance companies for preliminary risk assessment. The economic losses are evaluated considering seismic hazard, structural response, damage resulting from the structural vulnerability and only structural-vulnerability-induced e]conomic losses, i.e., structural repair or reconstruction costs (stock and flow costs) and content losses induced by structural collapse. The uncertainties associated with each step are accounted for via Monte Carlo simulations. The estimation results in a probabilistic description of the seismic risk of portal-like industrial buildings, expressed in terms of economic losses for each occurrence (i.e., seismic event) that owners (i.e., insured) and stakeholders can use to make risk management decisions. The outcome may also be useful for the definition of the insurance premiums and the evaluation of the risks and costs for the owner corresponding to the insurance industrial costs. A prototype of a precast concrete industrial building located in Mirandola, Italy, hit by the 2012 Emilia earthquake, is used as an example of the application of the procedure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.263-275
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• 2022

Structural collapses can occur as a result of a dynamic amplification of either, the building's seismic response or the ground shaking by local site effects; one of the reasons is a resonance effect due to the proximity of the structural elastic fundamental period TE and the soil fundamental period TS. We evaluate the vulnerability to resonance effects in Guadalajara, México, in a three-step schema: 1) we define structural systems in the building environment of western Guadalajara, in terms of their construction materials and structural components; 2) we estimate TE with different equations, to obtain a representative value in elastic conditions for each structural system; and, 3) we evaluate the resonance vulnerability by the analysis of the ratio between TE and TS. We observe that the larger the soil fundamental period, the higher the resonance vulnerability for buildings with height between 17 and 39 m. For the sites with a low TS, the most vulnerable buildings will be those with a height between 2 and 9 m. These results can be a helpful tool for disaster prevention, by avoiding the construction of buildings with certain heights and structural characteristics that would result in a dangerous proximity between TE and TS.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.629-648
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• 2016

This paper deals with 111 buildings built between 1962 and 1987, from various parts of the city of Osijek, for which, through the collection of documentation, a database is created. The aim of this paper is to provide the first steps in assessing seismic risk in Osijek applying method based on vulnerability index. This index uses collected information of parameters of the building: the structural system, the construction year, plan, the height, i.e., the number of stories, the type of foundation, the structural and non-structural elements, the type and the quality of main construction material, the position in the block and built-up area. According to this method defining five damage states, the action is expressed in terms of the macroseismic intensity and the seismic quality of the buildings by means of a vulnerability index. The value of the vulnerability index can be changed depending on the structural systems, quality of construction, etc., by introducing behavior and regional modifiers based on expert judgments. Since there is no available data of damaged buildings under earthquake loading in our country, we will propose behavior modifiers based on values suggested by earlier works and on judgment based on available project documentation of the considered buildings. Depending on the proposed modifiers, the seismic vulnerability of existing buildings in the city of Osijek will be assessed. The resulting vulnerability of the considered residential buildings provides necessary insight for emergency planning and for identification of critical objects vulnerable to seismic loading.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.173-191
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• 2009

Civil infrastructures are always subjected to various types of hazard and deterioration. These conditions require systematic efforts to assess the exposure and vulnerability of infrastructure, as well as producing strategic countermeasures to reduce the risks. This paper describes the needs for and concept of advanced sensor technologies for risk assessment of civil infrastructure in Japan. Backgrounds of the infrastructure problems such as natural disasters, difficult environment, limited resource for maintenance, and increasing requirement for safety are discussed. The paper presents a concept of risk assessment, which is defined as a combination of hazard and structural vulnerability assessment. An overview of current practices and research activities toward implementing the concept is presented. This includes implementation of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems for environment and natural disaster prevention, improvement of stock management, and prevention of structural failure.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security & Cryptology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1007-1015
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• 2013

The automatic payment process of mobile phone micropayment system has not checked user's authentication. That is the structural vulnerability of mobile phone micropayment system. The malicious contents provider can cheat users and payment gateway through abusing the structural vulnerability. The payment gateway applies standard payment module after August, 2012 in order to solve the problem. But the standard payment module also has the vulnerability that makes damage of users. So the purpose of this paper is to suggest efficient improvement of standard payment module for user protection.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.609-629
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• 2012

This study deals with the assessment of low and mid rise multi-story buildings made of stone and /or brick, composite steel and masonry slabs from the sixties, known to be vulnerable to seismic hazard using the "vulnerability index" method based on buildings survey following Ain Temouchent (1999) and Boumerdes (2003) earthquakes, from where vulnerability curves are constructed using the translation method. The results obtained for the case study confirm what has been observed in situ.