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Seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete structures affected by the 2008 wenchuan earthquake

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Abstract

A total of 116 reinforced concrete building structures were surveyed after the earthquake that devastated Wenchuan, China, in 2008. Original construction drawings were obtained for all these buildings. The buildings were ranked according to the degree of damage caused by the ground motion. Two different methods were used to define degree of damage. In both cases, strong correlation was found between the frequency of damage and a vulnerability index proposed by Hassan and Sozen. The index was first calibrated using data from Turkey and it was later tested by O’Brien et al. using data from Haiti. The observed correlation confirms that the index can be used effectively to prioritize resources for building strengthening.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the members of the HIT field team: Dr. Zhao Junwei, Associate Prof. Qi Jialian, Prof. Wu Zhenyu,. Together with you, our technical assistance tasks after Wenchuan Mega-earthquake 2008 were accomplished. The leading author appreciates the cooperative research provided by Purdue University. Thanks to Madeline D Nelson for checking all data. This research was funding by National Science of Foundation of China (No. 51108124).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin , 150090, China

    Wei Zhou & Wenzhong Zheng

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN , 47907, USA

    Santiago Pujol

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  1. Wei Zhou
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  2. Wenzhong Zheng
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  3. Santiago Pujol
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Correspondence to Wei Zhou.

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Zhou, W., Zheng, W. & Pujol, S. Seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete structures affected by the 2008 wenchuan earthquake. Bull Earthquake Eng 11, 2079–2104 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-013-9517-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-013-9517-5

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