Physical Vulnerability of Building Structures to Debris Flow Events Using Empirical and Numerical Methods

The main goal of this paper is to make physical vulnerability curves for various of building structures in Korea to enable a quantitative assessment of debris flow risks. The physical characteristics of debris flows were analyzed based on 8 debris flow disasters. A total of 19 buildings that were damaged during these events were investigated in detail to determine the characteristics and patterns of the damage. The physical vulnerability was obtained from the relationship between the degree of building damage and the intensity of the debris flows. The intensity of the debris flow such as flow depth, velocity, and impact pressure was analyzed by empirical method and numerical method. Three different vulnerability curves were obtained as functions of the debris flow depth, the flow velocity and the impact pressure. The impact pressure of debris flows corresponding to slight damage to RC buildings could result in complete destruction of non-RC buildings. The physical vulnerability curves described here have potential applications in quantitative assessment of the structural resistance of buildings to debris flow events.