LEARNING OUTCOMES

This module aims to provide the fundamentals of seismic risk assessment, emergency management, and mitigation policies of the built environment, with particular emphasis on buildings. At the end of the module, the student will learn the concepts of seismic risk, focusing on their components (hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience). Furthermore, the student will be able to discuss critically possible seismic risk reduction policies and finally acquire the tools to manage large-scale damage and vulnerability survey of existing buildings in the post-earthquake emergency phase.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

• clarify the concepts of seismic risk and risk elements (hazard, exposure, and vulnerability) 
• define the resilience concept and its interdisciplinary applications
• describe the main steps, differences, and analogies of seismic hazard analyses performed according to a deterministic vs a probabilistic approach
• analyze the principles of seismic response of masonry and reinforced concrete buildings
• identify the main aspects of structural vulnerability and discuss how they can affect the seismic response
• discuss the different possible seismic risk reduction policies in the three phases of risk management (pre-event, emergency state, and post-event)
• describe the different forms currently used in the post-earthquake damage survey for the practicability assessment of ordinary buildings and churches and apply them to actual case studies to compute the damage and vulnerability indexes
• perform a seismic risk analysis at a territorial scale (using the IRMA platform), analyze and comment the results

TEACHING METHODS

- Frontal lessons

- Case-studies

- Practical exercises developed by the students under the teacher's supervision:

• Practical exercise in the classroom: the students will perform a seismic risk analysis on different territorial areas (municipalities, provinces, regions) using the IRMA (Italian Risk Maps) platform (developed by EUCENTRE for Civil Protection) in order to: implement the fragility curves of the different types of buildings; estimate the expected damage to buildings (number of collapses and unusable buildings).
• Practical application in the field: the students will fill in the post-earthquake damage form available for Churches in order to compute the vulnerability index on a selected case-study (i.e., a church in the historical center of Genoa).

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1. Risk on the built environment

Introduction to natural disasters and risk elements (hazard, exposure, and vulnerability); Resilience concept and its interdisciplinary applications

2. Seismic Hazard (recall of the basics concepts)

• Earthquakes origin, mechanics, and effects (basics of seismology)
• Hazard as risk element: deterministic vs probabilistic hazard analysis

3. Exposure information

Introduction to the people, property, other assets, or systems exposed to seismic hazards

4. Dynamic response of structural systems and seismic action (recall to the basics concepts)

Introduction to the basic concepts of structural dynamics by means of an elementary mathematical model: the SDOF system

5. Vulnerability to earthquakes, part I: seismic response of reinforced concrete (RC) structures

• Brief recall of the material behaviour 
• Introduction to the concepts of structural typologies, morphology, and structural ductility
• Focus on structural deficiencies and collapse mechanisms exhibited by existing RC buildings after past earthquakes

6. Vulnerability to earthquakes, part I: seismic response of masonry structures

• Brief recall of the material behaviour 
• Vulnerability factors for masonry structures
• Seismic response of ordinary masonry buildings (1st mode and 2nd mode mechanisms)
• Seismic response of monumental structures (e.g. churches)

7. Vulnerability to earthquakes, part II: fragility curves

Analysis of the different approaches for the derivation of fragility curves: empirical, expert elicitation, numerical and hybrid methods; critical aspects in the derivation; treatment of uncertainties; practical example on the definition of numerical fragility curves

8. Seismic risk reduction policies in the three phases of risk management: pre-event, emergency state, and post-event

Presentation of the three phases of risk management and overview of the different possible risk reduction policies: 1) pre-event (Mitigation efforts and Preparedness – education, emergency management planning); 2) response (Emergency state); 3) post-event (Recovery)

9. Post-earthquake damage survey

• Description of the survey forms at present used by the Civil Protection to evaluate post-earthquake damage and vulnerability at national level for residential and monumental buildings
• Practical examples: post-earthquake damage survey applied to some case studies hit by the last Italian earthquakes in order to evaluate the damage and vulnerability indexes

This course contributes to the achievement of the following Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda: Objective n. 11 - Città e comunità sostenibili

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Course’s notes, available on AulaWeb
• References to journal papers provided by the teacher during the course