Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Reinforced Concrete Buildings Using Hierarchical Fuzzy Rule Base Modeling

A reliable building vulnerability assessment is required for developing a risk-based assessment and retrofit prioritization. Tesfamariam and Saatcioglu (2008) proposed a simple building vulnerability module where the building performance modifiers are in congruence with FEMA 154. This paper is an extension of the building vulnerability assessment that include detailed performance modifier in congruence with FEMA 310 that is represented in a heuristic based hierarchical structure. Some of the input parameters are obtained through a walk down survey and are subject to vagueness uncertainty that is modelled through fuzzy set theory. A knowledge base fuzzy rule base modeling is developed and illustrated for reinforced concrete buildings damaged in the 1 May 2003 Bingöl, Turkey earthquake.