Building-Information-Modeling–Based Earthquake Damage Assessment for Reinforced Concrete Walls

Engineering analysis to quantify the effects of earthquake forces on the structural strength of components requires determining the damage mode and severity of the components. The analysis requires strength computations and visual damage assessments, which are information intensive, potentially error-prone, and slow. This study develops a building-information-modeling (BIM) based approach to support the engineering analysis of reinforced concrete structures. In the proposed approach, the damage information is represented along with the geometric, topological, and structural information. Transformation and reasoning mechanisms are proposed to utilize the information contained in the BIM to perform strength analysis and visual assessment tasks. The approach is validated on a case study building, which contains 42 damaged piers and spandrels.