A new strategy for the seismic assessment of existing RC buildings

This paper presents a new strategy for the seismic assessment of existing Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings. The proposed method is based on a two steps approach. A field survey of some buildings is first developed to record their geometrical and mechanical characteristics; such survey is then enriched with information based on regulations and practical rules used during construction: the result of this step is the definition of homogeneus classes of buildings representing typical structures. The second step is based on the assessment of the seismic capacity of these structures using both refined models and parametric analysis: the outcomes can be extended to the defined classes to obtain vulnerability maps. A first application of the proposed strategy was made in Catania and the results of that study on an urban area, characterized by RC buildings constructed in the '60s and '70s without seismic provisions, are briefly presented.