A Macroseismic Method for the Vulnerability Assessment of Buildings (original) (raw)

A seismic risk analysis addressed to earthquake emergency management and protection strategies planning, requires territorial scale evaluation; to this aim a macroseismic method for the vulnerability assessment of built-up area is presented. The method is derived, in a conceptually rigorous way, by the use of Probability and of Fuzzy Set Theory, considering Macroseismic Scale definitions. Damage Probability Matrices are evaluated for the six vulnerability classes considered by the EMS98 scale; vulnerability curves are drawn for these classes and for different building typologies. An analytical equation, interpolating the curves, is introduced as a function of an only one parameter the Vulnerability Index; it correlates the seismic input, in term of Macroseismic Intensity, with the physical damage, summarized by the mean value of the beta distribution. An average Vulnerability Index is associated to each building typology, which may be refined on the basis of a seismic behavior modif...