Rapid risk assessment of Sri Lankan school buildings against tsunamis

Abstract

Rapid assessment of building vulnerability and risk is very useful, especially if based on sound engineering principles as opposed to expert opinion alone. A tsunami relative risk index (TRRI) has recently been proposed for hospital buildings based on such an approach. This study extends the concept to reinforced concrete school buildings. Two typical plan forms of school buildings were explored, each of two and three storey height. The criterion for overall structural failure was the shear capacity of columns; for scour, the number of footings undermined; and for debris impact, the shear capacity of corner columns. Of the parameters explored, the inundation depth and flow velocity were found to have the greatest influence on TRRI, while building type, building height and flow direction had much smaller influence. Debris impact was the governing risk at low inundation depths (around 1m), with scour at medium depths (around 3m) and overall structural shear failure at higher depths (around 5m).