Implications of masonry infillﾖrelated uncertainty on the optimal seismic retrofitting of existing buildings

Abstract

Many research efforts have focused on developing multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) processes for selecting the optimal seismic retrofit alternative when several important decision variables (DVs) need to be considered. Those DVs can include, amongst others, economic, social, technical, or even environmental aspects. For what concerns the technical DVs related to the structural response of poorly-detailed existing buildings, investigation of the uncertainties involved in the process is still needed to understand whether and how they can affect the identification of the optimal retrofitting alternative. In this sense, this paper addresses the impact of the uncertainty related to the variability in the mechanical properties and modelling of masonry infills on the results obtained with the aforementioned MCDM processes to identify risk-based optimal combined seismic-energy retrofitting strategies for a case-study building, representative of typical school buildings in Italy. Following a preliminary structural and energy assessment, different retrofit alternatives are evaluated through a MCDM framework to select the optimal solution. Finally, the MCDM results are presented, highlighting the effects of the variability in the infill properties, a source of uncertainty that is commonly discarded.