Research on seismic performance assessment method for buildings based on BIM and ontology

FEMA P-58, as the next-generation building seismic performance assessment method, can provide fine damage consequences up to the component level. However, due to the lack of effective organization and correlation of multi-source and heterogeneous information, it is difficult to share and reuse knowledge and the assessment efficiency is poor, so the automation degree needs to be improved. Based on the interpretation of FEMA P-58, a method for building seismic performance assessment based on BIM and ontology is proposed. The ontology is constructed to uniformly organize the information needed for assessment. Basic building data is retrieved from the IFC-based BIM model, then component topological relations are identified in preparation for automated assessment. Model conversion between BIM modeling software and structural analysis software improves the efficiency and quality of structural response analysis. SWRL(semantic web rule language)and SPARQL(SPARQL protocol and RDF query language)languages are used to reasonably express the logic of assessment and inquire semantic information. This method is applicable to the automated prediction of performance indexes for buildings under existing assessment types. It has scalability, which provides space for adding, deleting and updating assessment contents in the future. Finally, a certain building is taken as an example to verify the feasibility of the method. © 2020, Editorial Office of China Civil Engineering Journal. All right reserved.