Monday, May 7, 2012

ASEP A.CONCEPT Lecture: Development of Practical Tools for Vulnerability and Safety Evaluation of CHB Houses in the Philippines


ASEP Summit 2012 invites you to an A.CONCEPT lecture on:
What: PLE-01: Development of Practical Tools for Vulnerability and Safety Evaluation of CHB Houses in the Philippines
When: June 8, 2012
Time: 9:30-10:30 AM
Where: La Breza Hotel, QC
Who: Resource Speaker Hiroshi Imai, PhD.

About the Lecture/Abstract:

In the past earthquakes, the loss of life was most commonly caused by collapsed buildings constructed by using masonry. These collapsed buildings were not constructed to be earthquake resistant, hence called “Non-Engineered Construction”, which are ironically, widely constructed in seismic prone areas. For the housing situation in the Philippines, most of the non-engineered houses are CHB masonry structures. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the seismic performance of these existing CHB houses for disaster mitigation.

The Shaking Table Test was conducted on February 2011 at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Tsukuba Japan, to investigate some typical houses in the Philippines. The house specimens (3600 x 3600 x 2600mm) are of two types, Model A is an “Engineered” model complying with the National Structural Code of the Philippines 2010, 6th Edition (NSCP 2010), and Model B is a “Non-Engineered” model  which is a typical house constructed in Philippines. Through the Shaking Table Test, the vulnerable points of the CHB structures were figured outIt was particularly shown that in the “Non-Engineered” model, the end gable CHB wall and mortar joints of masonry units were vulnerable to damage, and some of the factors affecting damage were the quality of the CHB grout (mortar used to fill the CHB’s hollow part), and strength of CHB unit itself, etc.

The first step for disaster reduction is to understand the disaster risk. In order for earthquake disaster reduction to be successful, it is critical that the stakeholders such as government officers, masons and contractors, community leaders, and house owners should understand the earthquake risk, which includes the estimated damage of their house, community and city. To promote earthquake disaster mitigation, the stakeholders must understand the earthquake risk as their own problems, and must take actions as their own task with the technical advice from the professionals.

These practical tools (Seismic Diagnosis) aim to raise awareness among the stakeholders, by a simple evaluation of the safety/vulnerability of houses as an education tool.

As the purpose is to raise awareness but not to provide accurate estimate, the programs of the tools may give rough results, omitting some minor factors.
The “Practical Tools for Vulnerability and Safety Evaluation o f CHB houses of the Philippines” are the following:

STEP1 - Practical tools 1: Let’s check your house.

The “score” indicating the safety/vulnerability of the house is evaluated by homeowner by answering ten (10) questions concerning the shape of the floor, wall openings, type of foundation, type of roof, age of the house, etc.  Thus, the homeowner is made to understand which components of the house are important for determining its safety/vulnerability.

STEP2 - Practical tools 2:  Software to evaluate safety/vulnerability of CHB houses

The focus of this practical tool is the CHB masonry structure, which aims for homeowners, with the assistance of a civil engineer, to understand and evaluate the safety/vulnerability of their house and help them acquire a relevant knowledge for retrofitting the CHB masonry structure.

This tool, using a computer simulation program with a visual and user-friendly interface, is still in its development stage.  It is based upon field data, experimental data and the NSCP 2010.   To show the reasons for the safety/vulnerability of the house, and how to improve its safety against earthquakes, the program user will be made to input data about ground conditions, foundation, floor plan, allocation of walls, roofing, reinforcement, age, etc.  The program output includes the scoring of the house, the reasons for its safety/ vulnerability, and advice to strengthen the house, if necessary.

This presentation is based upon the on-going study, “Development of Practical Tools for the Vulnerability and Safety Evaluation of CHB houses of the Philippines”


About the lecturer:

Hiroshi Imai, is a Technical Researcher, Qualified Architect, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Tsukuba, Japan.  His experience include as Designer/ President (Arch. Space Design Studio/ Arch Studio P.O.10 Factory),  Architectural Designer (JICA – Republic of Malawi), Site Engineer, (Pacific Consultant International, School Reconstruction Project in Madagascar), Consultant for construction work (NPO JEN, Shelter Program in Kosovo), Director of Engineering Section (NPO Peace Winds Japan, program and Disaster Mitigation Program), Disaster Management Team Head, Group III (JICA, Global Environment Department), Research Specialist, (Building Research Institute, International Collaborative Research and Development Project for Disaster Mitigation  on Network of Research Institutes in Earthquake Prone Areas in Asia), Team Leader for Pull Down Test in Nepal (NPO SNS International Disaster Prevention Center - ERRP Project), and  Consultant, Responsible for Architectural Mobile Clinic Project in Indonesia (NPO SNS International Disaster Prevention Center).

He graduated from Nihon University Junior College, Department of Architecture and from Mie University.


E-mail:  imai@bosai.go.jp 

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