Fragility evaluation of existing typified school buildings in Albania

Abstract

This paper deals with the seismic vulnerability assessment analysis of some existing typified school buildings in Albania. This is particularly important for the estimation of probable damages and buildings’ behaviour in case of strong earthquakes. Three typified of R/C school buildings are selected for evaluation. Conclusions are only referred to the selected buildings. However, the developed approach may be used for the analysis of other structural types.

The first step of the study is the identification of the seismic zones — where the buildings are located — and the period of their constructions. Second, information on the seismic design conditions of the buildings is used and pushover analyses are performed in order to provide their respective capacity curves. Subsequently, using the procedures developed in the L2-Method — i.e.: modeling bilinear capacity curves in AD format, defining the damage threshold levels, calculating cumulative probability, and performing regression analysis — the fragility curves are obtained.

After considering the different seismic sites reviewing code requirements (the existing Albanian Code KTP-N2-89 and Eurocode 8) and analyzing performance points, the probable damage levels of the buildings is assessed.