Assessment of the seismic vulnerability of existing bridges. First part: Methodology

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to develop a simple model to assess vulnerability of bridges. This model was especially made for areas where current reports of seismic damages of bridges do not exist. The method is based on the identification of the most influential characteristics associated with the damage in a bridge under the action of an earthquake. The evaluation of these characteristics was carried out by means of the determination of nineteen parameters. A vulnerability degree and an importance value based on the opinion of experts was assigned to each of the 19 parameters. Due to the imprecision and subjectivity of the opinions, these data were processed by using fuzzy techniques. Once each one of the parameters was qualified, the qualifications of the parameters were related to their value of importance by means of a fuzzy weight average. The result of this relationship, according to techniques based on fuzzy sets, is the ?bridge vulnerability index?.