Comparative Environmental Analysis of Seismic Damage in Buildings
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 2
Abstract
In studying the environmental impacts of buildings, earthquake hazards are rarely considered, but their environmental impacts can be significant. This case study paper demonstrates how the US Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Performance Assessment Calculation Tool (PACT) can be used to analyze the environmental impacts of buildings using probabilistic seismic hazard assessment. PACT was used to evaluate 10 case study buildings that varied by five types of lateral systems and two risk categories. For each building, PACT generated 1,000 realizations at five earthquake intensities. The resulting environmental impacts were analyzed according to their distribution, median, and average values, and the differences among building component types, risk categories, and lateral force-resisting systems were explored. In this study, building components that were categorized under Exterior Enclosures, Interior Finishes, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) produced notably higher environmental impacts in response to seismic damage, and their vulnerability to displacement- or acceleration-induced damage could be attributed to the characteristics of the lateral systems. Although these observations are notable, they should not be taken as universally applicable to all buildings. Instead, these findings exemplify how the environmental impact results from PACT can be analyzed and interpreted to address both the seismic and environmental aspects of building design.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by FEMA and was managed by ATC through the ATC-58 Project, which is dedicated to the public. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of FEMA or ATC. Special acknowledgment is due to John Hooper, Anthony Court, Wayne Trusty, Mark Webster, and Jon Heinz, who collaborated on the development of the initial methodology; John Gillengerten, who developed the PACT model files for the case study buildings and provided guidance on their use; Vesna Terzic, who evaluated the case study buildings during their development; Scott Hagie and Russell Larson, who provided additional support for the PACT software; and Ayse Hortacsu for information about the next release of PACT.
References
Alirezaei, M., M. Noori, O. Tatari, K. R. Mackie, and A. Elgamal. 2016. “BIM-based damage estimation of buildings under earthquake loading condition.” Procedia Eng. 145 (Jan): 1051–1058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.04.136.
Architecture 2030. 2013. “Why the building sector?” Accessed August 1, 2018. http://architecture2030.org/buildings_problem_why/.
Arroyo, D., M. Ordaz, and A. Teran-Gilmore. 2015. “Seismic loss estimation and environmental issues.” Earthquake Spectra 31 (3): 1285–1308. https://doi.org/10.1193/020713EQS023M.
Bare, J. 2011. “TRACI 2.0: The tool for the reduction and assessment of chemical and other environmental impacts 2.0.” Clean Technol. Environ. Policy 13 (5): 687–696. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-010-0338-9.
Belleri, A., and A. Marini. 2016. “Does seismic risk affect the environmental impact of existing buildings?” Energy Build. 110 (Jan): 149–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.10.048.
Carnegie Mellon University Green Design Institute. 2008. “Economic input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA), US 1997 industry benchmark model.” Accessed July 15, 2016. http://www.eiolca.net.
CEN (European Committee for Standardization). 2011. Sustainability of construction works–Assessment of environmental performance of buildings–Calculation method. BS EN 15978:2011. Brussels, Belgium: CEN.
Chhabra, J. P., V. Hasik, M. M. Bilec, and G. P. Warn. 2018. “Probabilistic assessment of the life-cycle environmental performance and functional life of buildings due to seismic events.” J. Archit. Eng. 24 (1): 04017035. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AE.1943-5568.0000284.
Comber, M., C. Poland, and M. Sinclair. 2012. “Environmental impact seismic assessment: Application of performance-based earthquake engineering methodologies to optimize environmental performance.” In Proc. Structures Congress 2012, 922–928. Reston, VA: American Society of Structural Engineers.
Dong, Y., and D. M. Frangopol. 2016. “Performance-based seismic assessment of conventional and base-isolated steel buildings including environmental impact and resilience.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 45 (5): 739–756. https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.2682.
Feese, C., Y. Li, and W. M. Bulleit. 2014. “Assessment of seismic damage of buildings and related environmental impacts.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil. 29 (4): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000584.
FEMA. 2018a. Seismic performance assessment of buildings volume 1—Methodology. FEMA P-58-1. Washington, DC: FEMA.
FEMA. 2018b. Seismic performance assessment of buildings volume 5–Expected seismic performance of code-conforming buildings. FEMA P-58-5. Washington, DC: FEMA.
Gencturk, B., K. Hossain, and S. Lahourpour. 2016. “Life cycle sustainability assessment of RC buildings in seismic regions.” Eng. Struct. 110 (Mar): 347–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2015.11.037.
Hamburger, R. O. 2017. “ATC-58-2: Probabilistic performance-based seismic assessment and design guidelines.” In Proc., SEAOC 2017 Convention, 1–10. Sacramento, CA: Structural Engineers Association of California.
Hamburger, R. O., C. Rojahn, J. A. Heintz, and M. G. Mahoney. 2012. “FEMA P58: Next-generation building seismic performance assessment methodology.” In Proc., 15th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering 2012, 23416–23425. Tokyo: International Association for Earthquake Engineering.
Huang, M. and K. Simonen. 2018. Background document: Methodology for environmental impact assessment. FEMA P-58/BD-3.7.20. Washington, DC: FEMA.
International Code Council. 2015. International building code. Country Club Hills, IL: International Code Council.
Menna, C., D. Asprone, F. Jalayer, A. Prota, and G. Manfredi. 2013. “Assessment of ecological sustainability of a building subjected to potential seismic events during its lifetime.” Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 18 (2): 504–515. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0477-9.
Pan, C., H. Wang, S. Huang, and H. Zhang. 2014. “The great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami aftermath: Preliminary assessment of carbon footprint of housing reconstruction.” In Vol. 35 of Advances in natural and technological hazards research, 435–450. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
SEAOC and ICC (Structural Engineers Association of California and International Code Council). 2009. SEAOC blue book : Seismic design recommendations. Sacramento, CA: SEAOC.
Simonen, K., M. Huang, C. Aicher, and P. Morris. 2018. “Embodied carbon as a proxy for the environmental impact of earthquake damage repair.” Energy Build. 164 (Apr): 131–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.12.065.
Terzic, V., S. A. Mahin, and M. Comerio. 2014. “Comparative life-cycle cost and performance analysis of structural systems for buildings.” In Proc., 10th U.S. National Conf. on Earthquake Engineering: Frontiers of Earthquake Engineering. Oakland, CA: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
US Department of Energy. 2012. “Buildings energy data book, Chapter 1.4.1: Carbon dioxide emissions for US buildings, by year.” Accessed August 1, 2018. http://buildingsdatabook.eren.doe.gov/TableView.aspx?table=1.4.1.
Wei, H., M. Skibniewski, I. Shohet, and X. Yao. 2015. “Lifecycle environmental performance of natural-hazard mitigation for buildings.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil. 30 (3): 04015042. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000803.
Wei, H. H., I. M. Shohet, M. J. Skibniewski, S. Shapira, and X. Yao. 2016. “Assessing the lifecycle sustainability costs and benefits of seismic mitigation designs for buildings.” J. Archit. Eng. 22 (1): 04015011. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AE.1943-5568.0000188.
Welsh-Huggins, S. J., and A. B. Liel. 2018. “Evaluating multiobjective outcomes for hazard resilience and sustainability from enhanced building seismic design decisions.” J. Struct. Eng. 144 (8): 04018108. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0002001.
Yang, T. Y., J. Moehle, B. Stojadinovic, and A. Der Kiureghian. 2009. “Seismic performance evaluation of facilities : Methodology and implementation.” J. Struct. Eng. 135 (10): 1146–1154. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(2009)135:10(1146).
Yang, Y., W. W. Ingwersen, T. R. Hawkins, M. Srocka, and D. E. Meyer. 2017. “USEEIO: A new and transparent United States environmentally-extended input-output model.” J. Cleaner Prod. 158 (Aug): 308–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.04.150.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 7, 2018
Accepted: May 30, 2019
Published online: Dec 5, 2019
Published in print: Feb 1, 2020
Discussion open until: May 5, 2020
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.