Seismic loss assessment of existing hotel building in Ecuador

Abstract

This article presents results from a case study seismic assessment of an existing hotel structure located in Quito, Ecuador, using a practice-oriented story-loss-based assessment methodology. The building, constructed in the late 1950s and considered a city landmark, has undergone several renovations and repairs but has yet to be seismically retrofitted. A detailed building survey was conducted, and extensive data on structural layout, dynamic characteristics, and the damageable inventory was developed with the aid of Building Information Modeling. The building numerical models were compared against available ambient noise vibration measurements, and using the collected survey data, fragility and vulnerability functions were derived from non-linear dynamic analyses. The results showed that the building has a notable expected annual loss, primarily due to repair costs associated with nonstructural elements and contributions from potential collapse. Overall, the results provide a benchmark example for conducting seismic loss assessment of non-code-compliant and other vulnerable structures in Ecuador and the South American context in general.