Story loss functions for seismic design and assessment: Development of tools and application

Performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) has become an important framework for quantifying seismic losses. However, due to its computationally expensive implementation through a typically detailed component-based approach (i.e. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) P-58), it has primarily been used within academic research and specific studies. A simplified alternative more desirable for practitioners is based on story loss functions (SLFs), which estimate a building’s expected monetary loss per story due to seismic demand. These simplified SLFs reduce the data required compared to a detailed study, which is especially true at a design stage, where detailed component information is likely yet to be defined. This article proposes a Python-based toolbox for the development of user-specific and customizable SLFs for use within seismic design and assessment of buildings. It outlines the implementation procedure alongside a comparative demonstration of its application where dependency and correlation of damage states between different components are considered. Finally, a comparison of SLF-based and component-based loss estimation approaches is carried out through the application to a real case study school building. The agreement and consistency of the attained loss metrics demonstrate the quality and ease of the SLF-based approach in achieving accurate results for a more expedite assessment of building performance.