RAPID VISUAL SCREENING OF BUILDINGS

Abstract

The seismic history of India displays a worrisome number of earthquakes and subsequent large scale losses of life and. A few notable examples being the Bhuj Earthquake of 2001, the Indo-Nepal quake of 2015, Kashmir quake of 2005, Great Assam quake of 1897. These events resulted in large scale destruction of life and property and hence call for a risk mitigation and assessment approach. Seismic design however has rapidly evolved over the years but so have the complexities, particularly in design and construction. The structural depreciation is unavoidable in the long run irrespective of the maintenance techniques used. Rapid population increase coupled with a strain on the land for rapid urban development have led to subpar construction quality control being prevalent in the country. Hence the need for a rapid, economical and reliable method of performance evaluation of any structure comes into play and one such viable approach is the Rapid Visual Assessment, called the RVA in short.

By the means of this project, multiple aspects and guidelines for Rapid Visual Assessment (RVA) have been considered. The main guidelines for the process are laid down by FEMA 154 in the USA and no detailed guidelines exist in India. During the course of this project an attempt will be made to model a prototype more suited to the Indian Scenario. A separate sheet that is specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards will be used to screen a number of structures followed by the inferences derived, utility and the suitability of the system thus generated will be discussed in detail.