Researchers from Department of Civil Engineering Report Findings in Earthquake Engineering (An Empirical Method for Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Nepali School Buildings)

2020 AUG 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Engineering Daily News -- Fresh data on Engineering - Earthquake Engineering are presented in a new report. According to news reporting from Lalitpur, Nepal, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal damaged more than 28,000 school buildings across the affected areas. Nepali school buildings can broadly be categorized into special moment-resisting frame, brick masonry, stone masonry, timber, and composite construction (steel and masonry).”

Financial supporters for this research include University of Iceland Research Fund, World Bank Nepal.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the Department of Civil Engineering, “This paper proposes a new methodology to designate seismic vulnerability of these building categories. The proposed methodology is based on the field study of around 3389 school buildings in central Nepal. Structural, non-structural, architectural, site conditions, seismic enhancement and retrofitting, and multi-hazard parameters are incorporated to develop a scoring system. Indexed based system is introduced using sensitivity analysis which allows the designation of total vulnerability scores to individual buildings. The scores are modified based on the level of seismic strengthening/retrofitting. Based on the total vulnerability score, a qualitative vulnerability level is assigned to the individual building.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The results highlight that more than 90% of Nepali school buildings are moderate to very highly vulnerable.”

For more information on this research see: An Empirical Method for Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Nepali School Buildings. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, 2020;():. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering can be contacted at: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands. (Springer - www.springer.com; Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering - http://www.springerlink.com/content/1570-761x/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Dipendra Gautam, Cosmos Coll Management & Technol, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Lalitpur, Nepal. Additional authors for this research include Rabindra Adhikari, Rajesh Rupakhety and Pushkar Koirala.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-020-00922-z. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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