Investigating the Functional Vulnerability of an Industrial Building in Seismic Risk Management

The seismic protection level of a structure depends on its functional purpose and relative importance in accordance with the protection objectives established by the authorities. Critical infrastructure, such as hospitals and industrial facilities, must remain operational following a major seismic event, adhering to the performance-based design criteria. While the moderate seismic activity may pose a negligible structural risk, it can critically compromise the service functionality due to non-structural component failures (e.g., mechanical, electrical, or plumbing systems), potentially disrupting the essential operations. For critical facilities, such as hospitals, power plants, or industrial complexes, post-earthquake operational continuity requires both structural robustness, ensuring the life-safety and collapse prevention under earthquake scenarios, and functional reliability, maintaining the operational capacity of the technical systems through seismic qualification and fragility mitigation. This paradigm aligns with the advancements in functional recovery frameworks, which emphasize not only the survivability, but also a fast return-to-service. However, challenges remain in standardizing the vulnerability assessment methodologies for non-structural components, particularly in regions with heterogeneous construction practices, such as Northern Algeria. Within the framework of seismic risk prevention, this study implements a Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) based methodology initially developed for the seismic vulnerability assessment of hospital buildings, to investigate its application in the industrial context using a cement plant as a case study.