Statistical Approach in the Determination of Causality Factors of Seismic Capacity of Reinforced Concrete Residential Buildings

Abstract

Earthquakes are known destructive phenomena causing damages on buildings; yet their occurrence cannot be anticipated. Nevertheless, one could ensure that a building is resilient to earthquakes in terms of its seismic capacity. The traditional way of simulation to attain the building performance in various earthquake scenarios is inefficient and time-consuming especially when many structures need to be assessed. Hence, there is a need for an innovative process using a predictive model that could aid engineers in assessing structures faster and more efficiently. A critical step in developing this process is to identify the potential factors that affect the seismic capacity. Hence, preliminary data were collected through desktop review and interview followed by validity and reliability tests. As a result, one out of thirteen factors was rejected after the content validity test. Then, the pilot survey was conducted, yielding Cronbach's alpha of α=0.920. Lastly, the actual survey was conducted which was immediately followed by Exploratory Factor analysis. With this, the analysis yielded initial and final Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO=0.664) and Bartlett's test (p>0.05), indicating that the factors were suitable resulting in four major factors: Structural Detail, Material Strength, Architectural Detail, and Distance from the Nearest Faultline. Therefore, this study demonstrated the effective generation of relevant factors to develop structural measures to reduce safety risks and enhance earthquake preparedness in residential areas.