This project aims to go beyond conventional approaches and defines optimized life-cycle cost design methods that are capable of maximizing the benefit-cost ratio of the retrofit and evaluate the efficacy of dissipative braces as structural retrofit measure. The uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis within the proposed framework will expand the knowledge for retrofit design able to reduce building vulnerability with minimum uncertainty. This project aims at delivering an integrated procedure for the design of energy dissipation devices for the seismic retrofitting of existing structures that has the potential to achieve high seismic resilience and simultaneous optimization of economic resources.Buildings designed prior to the introduction of modern seismic design principles are increasingly prone to damage following earthquake events that may lead to high direct and indirect losses. Mitigation of earthquake-induced damage in non-seismically designed structures is achieved using structural retrofitting, wherein key qualities of a good retrofit should include a high benefit-cost ratio from a vulnerability reduction and economic standpoint as well as minimization of output fragility uncertainty. However, some of these aspects are typically ignored in traditional retrofit strategies.
The proposed project provides the ideal platform to utilize the complementary expertise of the lead applicants and promote the mutuality of their respective institutions as well as the two nations - India and UK. Augmenting to the past UKIERI theme, this project provides an essential building block towards the collaborative research framework for structures subjected to extreme loads. Besides the short-term benefits, considering the strength of the two institutions in the field of resilience against extreme events, this collaborative venture fosters the development of long-term collaborations between the two institutes, University College London (UCL) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
The research is under the UGC-UKIERI Joint Research Programme (UKIERI-III) and funded respectively by the British Council and the University Grants Commission respectively for the UK and India side. Only 18 research proposals have been selected for the UKIERI-III call. The full list is provided in the following link: https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/8208920_UGC-UKIERI.pdf
Epicentre Staff Involved: Dr Fabio Freddi, Dr Carmine Galasso
External Partner involved: Dr Jayadipta Ghosh,Dr Needhi Kotoky, Dr Meera Raghunandan ( IIT Bombay).