A simplified component-based methodology for the seismic vulnerability assessment of school buildings using nonlinear static procedures: application to RC school buildings

Several earthquakes have affected school infrastructure, compromising the safety of students and all the educational community. These damages are not caused solely by the action of earthquakes, but also by the lack of adequate seismic design, deficient construction practices, and lack of regulations and normative to ensure an appropriate quality for infrastructure. Therefore, to analyze how is the expected infrastructure behavior in earthquakes, this study presents a simplified methodology for the seismic vulnerability assessment of school buildings. The methodology includes several components: data collection, the characterization of Index Buildings, hazard definition, nonlinear numerical modeling of the structural response, seismic performance assessment and the vulnerability integration using a component-based approach. The novelty of the proposed methodology resides in the fact of its simplicity and robustness obtained by combining a simplified non-linear incremental static analysis together with a component-based vulnerability derivation methodology to assess the behavior of school buildings. This methodology is applied to a set of 11 Reinforced Concrete school building types representing common structural systems and seismic design levels. A number of sensitivity analyses are also carried out, varying the geometry, the foundation-soil flexibility, the mechanical properties of infill masonry walls, the non-structural elements and the analysis type, showing the versatility and reliability of the proposed methodology.