Abstract
A complete sustainable-performance analysis that takes into consideration the whole of the triple bottom line of sustainability is necessary when one needs to balance social, economic, and environmental impacts in an optimal cost-effective design based fundamentally on sustainability performance objectives. This study introduces a methodology that can translate seismic building damage into clearly quantifiable social, economic, and environmental impacts, which can be used when selecting repair methods appropriate for various states of building damage and for the local economic and environmental situation. The authors also propose a lifecycle-assessment framework with which one can evaluate the costs and benefits associated with a seismic design over the lifecycle of a building. Two case studies are presented. The first case assesses the sustainability performance of a single RC building under seismic risk. The second case, taking into account the uncertainty associated with seismic events, comprises a risk-based cost-benefit analysis of the desirability, in terms of the three sustainability metrics (separately and in combination), of two seismic retrofit designs on a regional scale. A comparison of the relative merits of the two proposed retrofit designs revealed that preventing buildings from becoming irreparably damaged plays an important role in increasing the cost-efficiency of a retrofit design. These findings also indicate that, although neither design can be considered feasible with respect to the three sustainability metrics individually, the lower-cost/lower-resistance design is justifiable if measured by the combined benefit from all three metrics, expressed in monetary terms. This finding emphasizes the necessity of a complete sustainable-performance analysis for achieving a cost-effective design. Finally, when comparing all three metrics in monetary terms, the savings associated with the reduction in fatalities contribute the most to the total expected benefit of a retrofit project, followed by reduced repair costs and reduced CO2 emissions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge support for this research by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the State of Israel (MSTSI) under Grant Number 3-9618. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the MSTSI.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 22 • Issue 1 • March 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 4, 2014
Accepted: Jul 27, 2015
Published online: Dec 2, 2015
Published in print: Mar 1, 2016
Discussion open until: May 2, 2016
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Benefit cost ratios
- Building design
- Business management
- Construction engineering
- Construction methods
- Design (by type)
- Earthquake engineering
- Engineering fundamentals
- Financial management
- Geotechnical engineering
- Life cycles
- Practice and Profession
- Rehabilitation
- Seismic design
- Seismic effects
- Seismic tests
- Sustainable development
- Tests (by type)
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