EFFECT OF NON-STRUCTURAL ELEMENT SEISMIC CLASSIFICATION IN SEISMIC LOSS ESTIMATION

This paper presents the results of a seismic loss estimation study performed on a school building in Italy. The study focuses on quantifying the effects of applying a recently proposed seismic classification procedure for acceleration-sensitive non-structural elements in Italy, based on qualification shake table testing, to the seismic expected annual loss of the school building. Since the proposed seismic classification procedure for non-structural elements in Italy is based on testing of non-structural elements on a shake table for specific levels of seismic intensity, defined according to the Italian seismic hazard map, a framework based on Bayesian inference is proposed to update the component fragility curves of acceleration-sensitive non-structural elements using the expected results from the qualification shake table tests. Because the levels of seismic intensity are predefined by the classification procedure, actual qualification shake table test results are not required to estimate the effects of applying such framework to the seismic loss estimation of buildings. The results of this study show that the proposed seismic classification procedure for non-structural elements in Italy has a significant effect on the expected annual loss of the studied school building, displaying the potential for global improvement of seismic building performance if qualification shake table testing of non-structural elements is widely adopted. Further studies are still required to observe the effect on different buildings and different locations.