Reliability-based minimum earthquake load factors for evaluation of existing buildings

IF 4.3 2区工程技术 Q1 ENGINEERING, CIVIL

Structures Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-13 DOI:10.1016/j.istruc.2026.111362

Reza Fathi-Fazl, Zoubir Lounis, Zhen Cai, Farrokh Fazileh

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This paper presents a practical and reliability-based method for determining the minimum earthquake load factors to be used with the force-based approach for the evaluation of the safety of existing buildings. This method derives the target reliability indices based on three key contributory factors affecting the seismic risk to life safety, namely: (i) consequence class; (ii) redundancy degree; and (iii) inspection quality. These derived reliability indices range from 1.30 to 2.55 and correspond to earthquake load factor values, ranging from 0.35 to 1.0, respectively. Furthermore, the method considers the impact of building practice quality, a crucial element in evaluating the seismic risk of existing buildings. The main objective of the proposed method is to improve consistency in seismic risk assessment and management of existing buildings. Building owners may choose to adopt higher reliability indices and earthquake load factors for their evaluations. To demonstrate this method, a numerical example is provided, illustrating the determination of the earthquake load factor for assessing an existing office building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

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基于可靠性的最小地震荷载系数评价既有建筑

本文提出了一种实用可靠的确定最小地震荷载系数的方法，可与基于力的方法一起用于既有建筑的安全评价。该方法根据影响地震风险对生命安全影响的三个关键因素，即：(1)后果等级；（ii）冗余度；（三）检验质量。得到的可靠度指标范围为1.30 ~ 2.55，对应的地震荷载系数值范围分别为0.35 ~ 1.0。此外，该方法还考虑了建筑实践质量的影响，这是评估既有建筑地震风险的关键因素。该方法的主要目的是提高既有建筑地震风险评估和管理的一致性。业主可选择采用较高的可靠度指标和地震荷载系数进行评价。为了说明该方法的有效性，给出了一个数值算例，说明了对加拿大安大略省渥太华市现有办公楼地震荷载系数的确定。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Structures Engineering-Architecture

CiteScore

5.70

自引率

17.10%

发文量

1187

期刊介绍： Structures aims to publish internationally-leading research across the full breadth of structural engineering. Papers for Structures are particularly welcome in which high-quality research will benefit from wide readership of academics and practitioners such that not only high citation rates but also tangible industrial-related pathways to impact are achieved.