Analytical fragility curves of reinforced concrete buildings subject to tsunami waves

Abstract

The prediction of damages caused by a tsunami over a large coastal area is a complex problem. One of the issues is the evaluation of the structural damage to buildings and infrastructures. A tsunami is preceded by a ground motion, both are caused by an earthquake. The coastal structures are hit, within a short period of time by both phenomena. In this study, we developed a method to build fragility curves for reinforced concrete structures subject to tsunami. The fragility curves are function of the intensity measure of the tsunami wave: wave height. The fragility curves of a prototype reinforced concrete building were computed through non-linear static analysis. This method can be used to assess the damage of an area once enough prototype structures are analyzed.