ENFORCE: Collapse risk categorization of the building stock in the Valencian Community to assess its robustness

Principal researcher:

Lisbel Rueda García

Team members:

• José M. Adam
• María Luz Gerbaudo

Funding Agency:

Duration: 01/01/2025 – 30/06/2026

Reference: PAID-06-24

Abstract

In several past catastrophes, it has been observed that local damage to a structure has led to its partial or total collapse. This, together with the increasing frequency of extreme events (meteorological disasters, accidents, terrorist attacks, etc.), makes it a priority to focus attention on the concept of structural robustness, understood as the insensitivity of a structure to local failure. In recent decades, several countries have developed robustness regulations. However, the vast majority of existing buildings were designed prior to their introduction and may therefore require strengthening in order to comply with these regulations. This is particularly important for buildings approaching the end of their service life (50 years), which must be rehabilitated and, consequently, updated to current standards. Among the large number of existing buildings, robustness varies considerably and, at present, there are no well-established methodologies that allow the collapse risk of buildings within a region to be assessed and strengthening interventions to be prioritized among them, as is already the case in other fields of knowledge such as seismic engineering and hydrology, through the use of risk maps. The ENFORCE project addresses this challenge by starting at the regional scale and developing a methodology that can be extended to other areas in the future.

The objective of ENFORCE is to provide an easy-to-use tool for assessing the collapse risk of existing buildings in the Valencian Community, to support decision-making related to improving structural robustness.To achieve this objective, an interdisciplinary methodology is employed that encompasses the study of the effect of various key building design parameters on structural robustness; the creation of risk categories by combining the results of the previous analyses with building data; and the generation of collapse risk maps for buildings in the main urban centers of the Valencian Community. These maps will enable: (i) the identification of building vulnerability to collapse within a given locality; (ii) support for professionals responsible for the inspection of existing buildings; (iii) the prioritization of strengthening interventions according to their degree of urgency; and (iv) the facilitation of the implementation of structural robustness regulations in society.