Quantitative Evaluation on Building Collapse-Induced Human Casualty for Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering

This research aims to propose an effective method which simulates the evacuation process and evaluates the human casualty during the building collapse of a structure. The explicit nonlinear dynamic time-history method is used to analyze the collapse process of a three-story steel frame structure during earthquakes. Combining the cellular automata (CA)-based evacuation simulation with the results of the nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis shows that the occupant flows in the building are mainly distributed in stairs and corridors. When collapse occurs, the main casualties are in the first story corridor. The method quantitatively assesses: (1) seismic casualties, which has a positive effect on the structural design to resist building collapse; (2) the building layout design to speed up evacuation; and (3) the determination of guidelines for post-disaster rescue.