Enhancing seismic assessment and risk management of buildings: A neural network-based rapid visual screening method development

Some of the existing buildings are designed based on lower design standards or even without considering seismic design standards. Recent earthquakes have further highlighted the vulnerability of these buildings when subjected to severe seismic activity. Consequently, it has become imperative to conduct seismic vulnerability assessments of the existing building stock. Therefore, the assessment of the existing building stock is required through the utilization of Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) methods. However, the existing conventional RVS methods used in seismic building assessments have shown limited accuracy. Furthermore, because these methods were developed based on expert opinions and/or due to access limitations to detailed assessment-based generated data used for their development, further enhancing them is challenging. To address these limitations, a new RVS method, which leverages Neural Networks (NN) and building-specific parameters, for reinforced concrete, adobe mud, bamboo, brick, stone, and timber buildings has been proposed in this study. Unlike conventional methods that rely on site seismicity class, the developed data-driven approach incorporates building-specific parameters such as the fundamental structural period and building spectral acceleration. The developed RVS method is specifically tailored to analyze diverse types of buildings in regions with varying seismicity risks, all in preparation for an impending earthquake. In this study, the developed RVS method demonstrated a promising 68% test accuracy, effectively representing the building performance against earthquakes. These findings illustrate the potential of the developed NN based RVS method in assessing existing buildings, thereby mitigating potential loss of life and property during imminent earthquake and alleviating the associated economic burden. Furthermore, this study introduces a new RVS method that can pave the way for future advancements in the field of seismic vulnerability assessment of existing buildings.