Seismic Vulnerability Scenarios for Timisoara, Romania

Abstract

Romania is an European country with two major seismic zones, Vrancea and Banat. Timisoara is one of the biggest cities in Romania, located in Banat seismic area, characterized by shallow earthquakes, with depths between 2 and 20 km and important vertical forces. In the historical area of Timisoara there were classified different types of structures, using the HAZUS method (HAZUS 1999). Seismic vulnerability analysis was done using different methodologies, Vulnerability Index, Tremuri, Vulnus and the Romanian methodology according to code P100-3/2013 in order to assess the behavior of historical buildings. Based on the results obtained after applying the three methodologies, there will be further made fragility curves for buildings located in the 3 historic zones of Timisoara city. In particular the probability to have in-plane or out-of-plane damages obtained by Vulnus is correlated with the results of the nonlinear analysis made with Tremuri software considering different limit state. Subsequently, considering the typical earthquakes in Banat area, it was possible to define the seismic response for three buildings, as a preview of seismic response of the city and the impact of the earthquake. This type of analysis was made for the most frequent earthquake type. This article makes plain the first step in estimating the hazard seismic scenarios for the evaluation of the losses in terms of human life and financial problems, offering the support for further prevention and intervention strategies.