Browsing by Author "Santa Maria, Hernan"

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    Benefits of global earth observation missions for disaggregation of exposure data and earthquake loss modeling: evidence from Santiago de Chile
    (2023) Geiss, Christian; Priesmeier, Peter; Pelizari, Patrick Aravena; Calderon, Angelica Rocio Soto; Schoepfer, Elisabeth; Riedlinger, Torsten; Vega, Mabe Villar; Santa Maria, Hernan; Gomez Zapata, Juan Camilo; Pittore, Massimiliano; So, Emily; Fekete, Alexander; Taubenbock, Hannes
    Exposure is an essential component of risk models and describes elements that are endangered by a hazard and susceptible to damage. The associated vulnerability characterizes the likelihood of experiencing damage (which can translate into losses) at a certain level of hazard intensity. Frequently, the compilation of exposure information is the costliest component (in terms of time and labor) of risk assessment procedures. Existing models often describe exposure in an aggregated manner, e.g., by relying on statistical/census data for given administrative entities. Nowadays, earth observation techniques allow the collection of spatially continuous information for large geographic areas while enabling a high geometric and temporal resolution. Consequently, we exploit measurements from the earth observation missions TanDEM-X and Sentinel-2, which collect data on a global scale, to characterize the built environment in terms of constituting morphologic properties, namely built-up density and height. Subsequently, we use this information to constrain existing exposure data in a spatial disaggregation approach. Thereby, we establish dasymetric methods for disaggregation. The results are presented for the city of Santiago de Chile, which is prone to natural hazards such as earthquakes. We present loss estimations due to seismic ground shaking and corresponding sensitivity as a function of the resolution properties of the exposure data used in the model. The experimental results underline the benefits of deploying modern earth observation technologies for refined exposure mapping and related earthquake loss estimation with enhanced accuracy properties.
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    Epistemic uncertainty of probabilistic building exposure compositions in scenario-based earthquake loss models
    (2022) Camilo Gomez-Zapata, Juan; Pittore, Massimiliano; Cotton, Fabrice; Lilienkamp, Henning; Shinde, Simantini; Aguirre, Paula; Santa Maria, Hernan
    In seismic risk assessment, the sources of uncertainty associated with building exposure modelling have not received as much attention as other components related to hazard and vulnerability. Conventional practices such as assuming absolute portfolio compositions (i.e., proportions per building class) from expert-based assumptions over aggregated data crudely disregard the contribution of uncertainty of the exposure upon earthquake loss models. In this work, we introduce the concept that the degree of knowledge of a building stock can be described within a Bayesian probabilistic approach that integrates both expert-based prior distributions and data collection on individual buildings. We investigate the impact of the epistemic uncertainty in the portfolio composition on scenario-based earthquake loss models through an exposure-oriented logic tree arrangement based on synthetic building portfolios. For illustrative purposes, we consider the residential building stock of Valparaiso (Chile) subjected to seismic ground-shaking from one subduction earthquake. We have found that building class reconnaissance, either from prior assumptions by desktop studies with aggregated data (top-down approach), or from building-by-building data collection (bottom-up approach), plays a fundamental role in the statistical modelling of exposure. To model the vulnerability of such a heterogeneous building stock, we require that their associated set of structural fragility functions handle multiple spectral periods. Thereby, we also discuss the relevance and specific uncertainty upon generating either uncorrelated or spatially cross-correlated ground motion fields within this framework. We successively show how various epistemic uncertainties embedded within these probabilistic exposure models are differently propagated throughout the computed direct financial losses. This work calls for further efforts to redesign desktop exposure studies, while also highlighting the importance of exposure data collection with standardized and iterative approaches.
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    Flexural performance of full-scale two-span Nail-Laminated Timber Concrete composite slabs
    (2024) Adema, Andres; Chacon, Matias F.; Santa Maria, Hernan; Opazo-Vega, Alexander; Casanova, Euro; Guindos, Pablo
    This study examines the flexural performance of six 9-m full-scale two-span Nail-Laminated Timber Concrete (NLTC) composite slabs. The slabs were made with lumber beams edge-joined with double nailing, end-joined with butt joints, and the reinforced concrete topping connected with a set of notches, inclined screws, or a combination of both. The multi-span configuration of slabs reduces their deflections simply and effectively. Fivepoint monotonic bending tests were considered for all slabs. Before full-scale slabs, compressive and tensile pullout tests of Timber-Concrete Composite (TCC) shear connections were performed, including notches and inclined screws. Tensile pull-out tests of shear connections were also included to emulate the negative bending moments that occur in the middle of the slabs. Failure modes, load-mid-span deflection relation, bending stiffness, and timber-concrete slip were evaluated for all slabs. A detailed 3D micro-Finite Element (FE) model of the shear connections was built in ANSYS software, whereas a macro-FE model of NLTC slabs was made in SAP2000, demonstrating a good fit for the timber-concrete interaction and the load-carrying capacity of the composite slab at the serviceability range. Moreover, an analytical elastic TCC beam with the Girhammar method was assessed and demonstrated as more precise than the traditional gamma-method. Finally, an accurate prediction of the numerical and analytical (Girhammar) models for the bending stiffness at service loads up to 30% of capacity is observed, with errors in a range of 2-23% and 9-74%, respectively.
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    Optimal Strut-and-Tie Models Using Full Homogenization Optimization Method
    (2012) Pablo Herranz, Juan; Santa Maria, Hernan; Gutierrez, Sergio; Riddell, Rafael
    An optimization method based on homogenization is proposed for finding optimal strut-and-tie (ST) models for reinforced concrete (RC) elements. The method uses a layout that minimizes displacement for a given loading state in a linearly elastic regime by mixing two materials. Although this optimal layout might contain fine mixtures, one can still obtain a strongly resembling ST model without mixtures that performs closely to the optimal configuration through a penalization procedure. Two examples from the ST literature are used to illustrate the application of the method: the dapped beam and the beam on beam. The reinforcement layouts obtained make the element more efficient in terms of ultimate load divided by the weight of the steel used and having smaller deflections and crack widths. It is remarkable that the used optimization method, which considers the structure in the linearly elastic regime, gives a very good performance for the nonlinear regime.