Seismic Performance Assessment of Alqutiefeh Hospital Using Incremental Dynamic Analysis

Abstract

The study of assessing the safety of health facilities is essential, especially in the case of exposure to disasters such as earthquakes. It is necessary to en sure the safety and operability of hospitals after earthquakes. Fragility curves help in assessing the expected seismic performance of the building and evaluating losses, which helps specialists develop emergency plans later. In this research, the seismic performance of Al-Qatifah National Hospital, which was designed seismically according to the Syrian Building Code, was evaluated by conducting an incremental dynamic analysis for developing the fragility curves for the structural elements, then evaluating the building's performance on the intensity corresponding to the design earthquake to verify reaching the immediate occupancy level, and on the intensity corresponding to the maximum considered earthquake to verify reaching the life safety level. the results show by the that although the studied building meets the general requirements for the acceptable drift ratios, some structural elements (such as shear-controlled walls, columns and beams forming the facade frame) did not achieve the required performance level. The results also showed that the incremental dynamic analysis provides a better view of the expected seismic performance of structural elements than other analysis methods.