OVERVIEW OF PERFORMANCE-BASED SEISMIC RISK ASSESSMENT

OF BRITISH COLUMBIA SCHOOL BUILDINGS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This document provides an overview of the proposed performance-based seismic risk assessment of British Columbia school buildings. The proposal has been prepared by the Association of Professsional Engineers of British Columbia for the consideration of the British Columbia Ministry of Education and Western Economic Diversification Canada.

The state-of-the-art seismic risk assessment tools to be developed in this proposed project have application beyond the evaluation of school buildings. This proposal details an option for expanding the assessment tool development to include mid-rise and high-rise buildings and performance objectives that encompass not only life safety but habitability and business recovery.

2.0 OBJECTIVE

The primary objectives of this proposed project are as follows:

(1) Assessment Tools

Develop state-of-the-art performance-based seismic risk assessment tools that will permit engineers to perform rapid evaluations of large building inventories in a sophisticated, efficient and effective manner.

(2) Safe British Columbia Schools

Use these performance-based seismic risk assessment tools to evaluate all moderate risk and high risk school buildings in British Columbia.

Based on these risk assessment results, formulate a prioritized multi-year risk abatement program that will culminate in the elimination of all unacceptable seismic risk hazards in British Columbia school buildings.

(3) Expanded Application

Expand the application for the performance-based seismic risk assessment tools to include mid-rise and high-rise buildings.

Expand the performance objectives to include not only life safety (primary objective for schools) but habitability and business recovery.

(4) British Columbia Research

Expand the growth opportunities for cutting edge British Columbia research through industry/university partnerships in areas of applied research that have immediate local and international application.

3.0 RISK ASSESSMENT PERSPECTIVE

This proposed project has been formulated in response to an urgent need to address the unacceptable life safety risk that British Columbia students and staff currently face in the event of a moderate or large earthquake inflicting heavy damage on vulnerable school buildings.

In an age of advanced technology, engineers still do not have all the necessary tools to assess and mitigate the earthquake threat to our community's building infrastructure. The current evolution toward performance-based building codes is stimulating the development of more technically advanced tools for predicting the

complex behaviour of buildings in an earthquake. This proposed project is intended to meet this challenge through the development of state-of-the-art risk assessment tools that have an immediate and urgent local application.

Building codes focus on the performance requirements for tomorrow's buildings. Given the rapid evolution of building codes over the past twenty years, many forms of existing construction are seriously deficient by contemporary code standards. The purpose of seismic risk assessment is to determine which buildings pose an unacceptable risk and the priority ranking for mitigation

of that seismic risk. Seismic risk assessment is the essential precursor to an efficient and cost-effective hazard mitigation program.

The addition of habitability and business recovery to the performance objectives would be valuable additions to the risk assessment procedure for expansion of its application to large commercial and institutional buildings.

4.0 PROJECT PHASES

This proposed project has the following three phases:

(1) Phase A - Basic Tool Development

Develop sophisticated performance-based seismic risk assessment tools for low-rise British Columbia buildings.

(2) Phase B - School Risk Assessment

Use the tools developed in Phase A to conduct a comprehensive seismic risk assessment of all moderate risk and high risk British Columbia school buildings.

(3) Phase C - Advanced Tool Development

Expand the tools developed in Phase A to include mid-rise and high-rise buildings.

Expand the performance requirements to include not only life safety (Phase A) but habitability and business recovery.

5.0 SCOPE OF WORK DETAILS

5.1 Scope of Work - Phase A (Basic Tool Development)

The scope of work for Phase A is as follows:

Assess impact of quality of construction on seismic performance of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings

Perform a limited laboratory test program to evaluate the out-of-plane seismic behaviour of URM walls

Conduct a literature survey of damage to URM buildings in recent Califronia earthquakes

Develop risk assessment guidelines for low-rise buildings

Institute a comprehensive peer review to refine proposed risk assessment guidelines

Develop software to facilitate efficient and consistent use of risk assessment procedure

Train local engineers in use of risk assessment guidelines and software

The budget for Phase A is $190,000.

Note that a major objective of Phase A is the development of a rational methodology for assessing the performance of URM buildings. Experience from the recent completion of a state-of-the-art seismic risk assessment for the Greater Victoria School District suggests that the risk posed by URM buildings can be

refined and focused to provide a more cost-effective evaluation of the high risk components of the buildings.

5.2 Scope of Work - Phase B (School Risk Assessment)

The scope of work for Phase B is as follows:

Deliver information package and funding to all British Columbia school districts that have moderate risk and high risk school buildings.

Within each school district, conduct a seismic risk assessment of all moderate risk and high risk school buildings.

Deliver seismic risk assessment results in standardized format to the British Columbia Ministry of Education.

Formulate a prioritized, province-wide multi-year seismic hazard mitigation program to eliminate all building hazards of unacceptable risk.

The budget for the engineering component of Phase B is $400,000.

5.3 Scope of Work - Phase C (Advanced Tool Development)

The scope of work for Phase C has similarities to that for Phase A and is as follows:

Conduct a literature survey of performance-based earthquake damage estimation for mid-rise and high-rise buildings.

Perform extensive damage prediction analysis for a range of mid-rise and high-rise prototype buildings

Develop risk assessment guidelines for mid-rise and high-rise buildings

Institute a comprehensive peer review to refine proposed risk assessment guidelines

Expand software in Phase A to include mid-rise and high-rise construction

Train local engineers in use of expanded guidelines and software

The budget for Phase C is $170,000.

6.0 FUNDING

The proposed sources of funding for this project are as follows:

Phase Agency/Industry Amount

A BC Ministry of Education $160,000

Industry $30,000

B Provincial/Federal $400,000

C Western Diversification $150,000

Industry $20,000

TOTAL FUNDING $760,000

7.0 SCHEDULE

The overall schedule for the proposed three phases is as follows:

Phase A - nine (9) months

Phase B - twelve (12) months

Phase C - nine (9) months

- twelve (12) months for concurrent Phase A and

phase C development

8.0 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The Association of Professional Engineers of British Columbia (APEGBC) will be the project manager for Phases A, B and C of the proposed project. Input from the Ministry of Education and School Districts will be required for the implementation of Phase B

9.0 CONCLUSION

This brief document provides an overview of a proposal by the Association of Professional Engineers of British Columbia to take a major step forward in earthquake preparedness in British Columbia. The immediate priority for this proposal is the elimination of all building hazards of unacceptable risk in

British Columbia schools.

The sophisticated state-of-the-art technical tools to be developed in this project have broader application beyond school safety to include large commercial and institutional buildings in local and international communities where the threat of earthquake damage is significant. The development of these technical tools is without international precedent.

Prepared by: Andrew Mill, MASc., P.Eng., CP

Chair, Seismic Risk Task Force

Date: November 21, 2003