Development of damage catalogues for visual assessment of buildings in the event of an earthquake

ABS TRACTThe rapid classification of damaged and de-stroyed infrastructures and the assessment of stability is a fun-damental prerequisite for effective rescue measures in the event of a disaster. Visual inspections are essential for the fast assessment of damage. For a uniform and objective assess-ment of earthquake damage, damage catalogues for global and material-specific damage characteristics are developed. In this paper, damage catalogues for structural and nonstructural elements made of reinforced concrete and masonry as well as global characteristics are proposed based on five damage gra-des. The included descriptions, schematic illustrations and example images make an objective categorisation of the diffe-rent grades possible. For low damage grades, maximum crack widths of different crack types are decisive for the clear delimi-tation of the damage classes. For high damage grades, the global load-bearing behaviour of the building is decisive. The application of the damage catalogues is explained and discus-sed in detail.

Automated summary

This paper proposes damage catalogues for structural and nonstructural elements and global characteristics based on five damage grades. The catalogues include descriptions, schematic illustrations, and example images, enabling an objective categorization of earthquake damage.