The 1985 Chile earthquake: Structural characteristics and damage statistics for the building inventory in Vina del Mar

The Chile earthquake of 3 March 1985 resulted in an effective peak acceleration of 0.36g in the coastal city of Vina del Mar. The city had an inventory of over 400 reinforced concrete buildings ranging in height from 5 to 23 stories. The observed behavior of the buildings is interpreted in relation to the physical characteristics of the structural systems.National Science Foundation Grant ECE 86-0378

Seismic Risk Assessment of an Emergency Department of a Chilean Hospital Using a Patient-Oriented Performance Model

International audienceAfter an earthquake, hospital emergency departments need to provide continuous health care services to respond to the eventual sudden increase in injured people. The service performance of an emergency department is influenced by internal factors, such as physical damage and staff availability, and external factors, such as an increased patient arrival rate and disruptions in its supply chain. This research presents a quantification methodology for the performance of the emergency department. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in the explicit integration of the inelastic structural and nonstructural response of the building and damage with its loss of functionality, downtime, and emergency patient treatment rate. A discrete event simulation model is used to model the flow of patients within the different units of the emergency department. The seismic risk is expressed as return periods of exceeding different levels of patient waiting times. Results show that 1,000 and 30,000 accumulated waiting hours correspond to return periods of 100 and 1,000 years, respectively. It is concluded that this model may contribute to improving the risk management of critical emergency department infrastructure

Performance of a reinforced concrete wall building subjected to sequential earthquake and tsunami loading

This paper investigates the behavior of a typical Chilean reinforced concrete wall building under sequential earthquake and tsunami actions using a double pushover analysis approach. A real concrete wall structure that was damaged after the 2010 Maule earthquake is considered as a case study building and a simplified nonlinear finite element model of a fictitious slice of the building is subjected to earthquake and tsunami loading in sequence. The analysis of the building under these loadings consists of three stages: the structure is first subjected to seismic loading by means of a pushover analysis until a specific damage state is reached; then a pushover with the same load pattern but in the opposite direction is applied until the shear at the base is zero; and finally, the building is subjected to tsunami loading by means of a variable depth pushover analysis until the maximum capacity is reached. Different tsunami load cases are considered in this study, varying the Froude number and the direction of the tsunami loading. The results show that the tsunami response of the building is mainly dependent on the Froude number of the tsunami flow; however, when the seismic damage is severe, the tsunami capacity of the building is found to be reduced. This is more likely to occur when the effect of the tsunami increases the damage previously induced by the earthquake in the same direction

Fire risk assessment of historic urban aggregates: An application to the Yungay neighborhood in Santiago, Chile

Concern for the preservation of historic urban centers has become an issue of international relevance, not only because of their irreplaceable cultural value, but also because of their potential positive role for the sustainable development of countries. Several disasters have shown that historic centers are particularly vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic hazards. The constructive characteristics of buildings and the urban morphology in which they are inserted increase the fragility of their historic fabric and vulnerability in case of disasters. In this context, a comprehensive understanding of vulnerabilities of historic centers is an essential step for the definition and adoption of more effective risk reduction strategies.This paper presents a fire risk assessment at the urban scale, using the Fire Risk Index (FRI) method. The selected case study corresponds to the historic center of Yungay, located in Santiago de Chile. The case study is particularly relevant because of the high presence of historic heritage buildings and because between 2016 and 2021 it has been the scene of 21 structural fires, causing irreparable human and heritage losses.Through the adaptation of the methodology to Chilean fire regulations and urban code, 443 unreinforced masonry buildings were evaluated. Finally, fire risk factors for the ignition, propagation, evacuation and combat phases were identified and mapped through the GIS tool. The results represent a valuable step towards the identification of large-scale risks in Chilean and Latin American historic urban centers, as well as providing the basis for the definition of risk mitigation strategies by decision-makers