Heuristic Approach in Structural Strength Evaluation and Retrofitting of Existing Buildings in Seismic Areas

Abstract eng:
The migration of the population, to developed areas, lead to birth of overcrowded areas with claim for residences, financial, administrative, cultural and industrial facilities. The density augmentation of the population required sophisticated solutions from the authorities to ensure adequate environmental state suited for the 21th century. Due to the huge demand of the facilities significant number of buildings must be strengthened and modified to be suitable to the new demands. This change claims increase of surfaces and storey addition. This trend leads to the hazard of the new urban agglomerations versus natural causes as flood, fire and earthquake. The present paper is devoted to structures which were built before the implementation of any code or obsolete ones for the seismic design. Strengthening and retrofitting of existent buildings is a major interest of the actual engineering effort to provide the suitable structures to the new demands and to be stable under seismic loads. Each seismic event is accompanied by damages that better design and execution would have prevented. In general, severe earthquakes are followed by intense research of the causes which damaged structures. In some cases the code is changed due to the short comes which were observed. This means that each experiment including earthquakes is followed by a learning process that provides new solutions, use of new materials and new design strategies. This process must be a heuristic process according the abilities of evaluation and implementation.

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