Information technology and management of diagnostics for analysis of seismic vulnerability in buildings

Ensuring the safety of a building in the event of an earthquake requires analysis of its vulnerability. The analysis is undertaken to evaluate the damage expected in the building for a possible earthquake of pre-established energy. To achieve this, a calculation model has to be prepared, referred to structural and typological characteristics in order to define a cause and effect relationship. This is possible either with in-depth design details or by undertaking diagnostic investigation of existing constructs. At the moment, state-of-the-art technology offers detectors, instruments and diagnosis methods, above all for non-destructive testing, which is user-friendly and will produce extensive information and large amounts of data in a short time. The risk is that excessive amounts of data produced by cutting-edge technology are not followed up with a useful and adequate interpretation of the actual data. It is clear that digital support for optimizing the diagnostic process and, simultaneously, meeting the three fundamental requirements of a diagnostic campaign for the assessment of seismic vulnerability in buildings must: gather and systemize a large number of data; put together a reasoned collection of recorded data and decisions applied that will be useful in the future; guide diagnostics towards the most appropriate investigation method for the specific case. In short, the use of a digital platform for managing and interpreting recorded data appears applicable to the quality system for a diagnostic campaign, above all if considering the non-destructive type that allows for methodical, systematic knowledge of building heritage so as to obtain the model's timely correspondence with the real world. A digital platform will be useful in the management of a quality system when applied to action planning (that is to say a set of methods and instruments) within the system, aimed at its definition, achievement, substantiation, demonstration and maintenance. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Guest Editor.