A New Agent-Based Methodology for the Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Urban Areas

Greco, Annalisa; Pluchino, Alessandro; Barbarossa, Luca; Barreca, Giovanni; Caliò, Ivo; Martinico, Francesco; Rapisarda, Andrea

doi:10.3390/ijgi8060274

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…It is important to point out that, due to the sub-surface geological setting, amplifications of the seismic input with respect to rigid soil conditions can occur and therefore the same intensity can be differently perceived by the buildings present in the considered territory. The size S of an earthquake in the OFC model can be related to the corresponding intensity I in the EMS-98 by means of the magnitude M = ln S as described in [23]. In particular in the following, reference will be made to the empirical relation I(M) = 1.71 M -1.02 which takes into account the comparison between the magnitude scale and the EMS-98 one [35].…”

Section: See Text For Further Detailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ductility index Q has been assumed equal to 2.3 for masonry buildings and to 2.6 for reinforced concrete buildings [23]. Damage in buildings may be caused either by a strong seismic event or during repetitive sequences of earthquakes of moderate intensity.…”

Section: Damage On Buildings Produced By Seismic Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there are computational models that, interfaced with territorial maps in the GIS environment, allow simulating the effects of seismic excitations in the various sites of interest with a good approximation. Some of the authors of this paper have recently published a study [23] in which the seismic events were simulated using a modified version of the Olami-Feder-Christensen (OFC) model [24], recognized in the scientific literature as suitable for reproducing seismic stress in a given territory within the context of Self-Organized Criticality [25]. In the cited study the OFC model has been conveniently combined with urban and geological datasets and applied to the estimation of the seismic vulnerability of a small urban center on the south-eastern coast of Sicily.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present paper, the methodology proposed in [23] has been extended assuming a more detailed correlation between geological characteristics of the soil and the seismic intensity perceived from the buildings in the selected area and performing numerical simulations for both the case of single or repetitive seismic events. Moreover, a larger territory which includes urbanized zones with different features has been chosen as case study: the metropolitan area of Catania, which includes 25 municipalities of different size with more than two hundred thousand buildings in total.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seismic risk assessment of a large metropolitan area by means of simulated earthquakes

Fischer

Barreca

Greco

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The determination of seismic risk in urban settlements has received increasing attention in the scientific community during the last decades since it allows to identify the most vulnerable portions of urban areas and therefore to plan opportune strategies for seismic risk reduction. In order to accurately evaluate the seismic risk of urban settlements it should be necessary to estimate in detail the seismic vulnerability of all the existing buildings in the considered area. This task could be very cumbersome due to both the great number of information needed to accurately characterize each building and the huge related computational effort. Several simplified methods for the assessment of the seismic vulnerability of existing buildings have been therefore presented in the literature. In order to estimate the occurrence of damage in buildings due to possible seismic excitations, the published studies usually refer to response spectra evaluated according to seismic events expected in the territory with assumed probabilities. In the present paper seismic events are instead simulated using a modified Olami-Feder-Christensen (OFC) model, within the framework of Self-Organized Criticality. The proposed methodology takes into account some geological parameters in the evaluation of the seismic intensities perceived by each single building, extending the approach presented in a previous study of some of the authors. Here, a large territory in the Sicilian oriental coast, the metropolitan area of Catania (Sicily), which includes several urbanized zones with different features, has been considered as a new case study. Applications of the procedure are presented first with reference to seismic sequences of variable intensity, whose occurrence is rather frequent in seismic territories, showing that the damage can be progressively accumulated in the buildings and may lead to their collapse even when the intensities of each single event are moderate. Moreover, statistically significant simulations of single major seismic events, equivalent to a given sequence in terms of produced damages on buildings, are also performed. The latter match well with a novel a-priori risk index, introduced with the aim of characterizing the seismic risk of each single municipality in the considered metropolitan area. The proposed procedure can be applied to any large urbanized territory and, allowing to identify the most vulnerable areas, can represent an useful tool to prioritize the allocation of funds. This could be a novelty for risk policies in many countries in which public subsidies are currently assigned on a case-by-case basis, taking into account only hazard and vulnerability. The use of a risk index in the allocation process will allow to include the relevant role of exposure.

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Section: See Text For Further Detailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Damage On Buildings Produced By Seismic Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Seismic risk assessment of a large metropolitan area by means of simulated earthquakes

Fischer

Barreca

Greco

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…A goal-driven approach that defines behaviors for specific cases may contribute to the solution of this problem. For instance, Greco et al [4] proposed an agent-based methodology for seismic vulnerability assessment. Cao et al [5] studied the problem of a leader following the consensus and proposed a leader switching procedure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical Behavior Model for Multi-Agent System with Evasion Capabilities and Dynamic Memory

Çetin

Bülbül

2020

IJGI

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The behavior of an agent may be simple or complex depending on its role. Behavioral simulation using agents can have multiple approaches that have different advantages and disadvantages. By combining different behaviors in a hierarchical model, situational inefficiencies can be compensated. This paper proposes a behavioral hierarchy model that combines different mechanisms in behavior plans. The study simulates the social behavior in an office environment during an emergency using collision avoidance, negotiation, conflict solution, and path-planning mechanisms in the same multi-agent model to find their effects and the efficiency of the combinational setups. Independent agents were designed to have memory expansion, pathfinding, and searching capabilities, and the ability to exchange information among themselves and perform evasive actions to find a way out of congestion and conflict. The designed model allows us to modify the behavioral hierarchy and action order of agents during evacuation scenarios. Moreover, each agent behavior can be enabled or disabled separately. The effects of these capabilities on escape performance were measured in terms of time required for evacuation and evacuation ratio. Test results prove that all mechanisms in the proposed model have characteristics that fit each other well in situations where different hierarchies are needed. Dynamic memory management (DMM), together with a hierarchical behavior plan, achieved a performance improvement of 23.14% in escape time without providing agents with any initial environmental information.

show abstract

Seismic risk assessment of a large metropolitan area by means of simulated earthquakes

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The determination of seismic risk in urban settlements has received increasing attention in the scientific community during the last decades since it allows to identify the most vulnerable portions of urban areas and therefore to plan appropriate strategies for seismic risk reduction. In order to accurately evaluate the seismic risk of urban settlements it should be necessary to estimate in detail the seismic vulnerability of all the existing buildings in the considered area. This task could be very cumbersome due to both the great number of information needed to accurately characterize each building and the huge related computational effort. Several simplified methods for the assessment of the seismic vulnerability of existing buildings have been therefore presented in the literature. In order to estimate the occurrence of damage in buildings due to possible seismic phenomena, the published studies usually refer to response spectra evaluated according to seismic events expected in the territory with assumed probabilities. In the present paper seismic events are instead simulated using a modified Olami–Feder–Christensen (OFC) model, within the framework of self-organized criticality. The proposed methodology takes into account some geological parameters in the evaluation of the seismic intensities perceived by each single building, extending the approach presented in a previous study of some of the authors. Here, a large territory in the Sicilian oriental coast, the metropolitan area of Catania, which includes several urbanized zones with different features, has been considered as a new case study. Applications of the procedure are presented first with reference to seismic sequences of variable intensity, whose occurrence is rather frequent in seismic territories, showing that the damage can be progressively accumulated in the buildings and may lead to their collapse even when the intensities of each single event are moderate. Moreover, statistically significant simulations of single major seismic events, equivalent to a given sequence in terms of produced damages on buildings, are also performed. The latter match well with a novel a-priori risk index, introduced with the aim of characterizing the seismic risk of each single municipality in the considered metropolitan area. The proposed procedure can be applied to any large urbanized territory and, allowing to identify the most vulnerable areas, can represent a useful tool to prioritize the allocation of funds. This could be a novelty for risk policies in many countries in which public subsidies are currently assigned on a case-by-case basis, taking into account only hazard and vulnerability. The use of an a-priori risk index in the allocation process will allow to take into due account the relevant role of exposure.

show abstract

A New Agent-Based Methodology for the Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Urban Areas

Cited by 9 publications

References 41 publications

Seismic risk assessment of a large metropolitan area by means of simulated earthquakes

Seismic risk assessment of a large metropolitan area by means of simulated earthquakes

Hierarchical Behavior Model for Multi-Agent System with Evasion Capabilities and Dynamic Memory

Seismic risk assessment of a large metropolitan area by means of simulated earthquakes

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