Economic Loss Assessment for Concrete Buildings with Consideration of Corrosion and Aftershock Excitations

Abstract

Seismic loss estimation is a critical issue of seismic risk mitigation and resilience planning in urban environments. However, although several recent studies have examined the coupled effects of corrosion-induced deterioration and ground-motion sequences on structural fragility and seismic performance, their implications for multidimensional economic loss assessment remain insufficiently explored. An economic loss estimation framework is proposed in this study, which accounts for both factors. The direct, indirect, and human losses are systematically evaluated across various building typologies over a 50-year service life, considering coupled corrosion-aftershock effects. Results demonstrate that corrosion and aftershocks substantially exacerbate all loss categories. Corrosion and aftershocks individually increase the direct loss by as much as 50% and 83%, respectively, and by up to 186% when the two effects are combined. Indirect losses are largely influenced by downtimes, with values in some cases exceeding twice those of direct losses. Human loss constitutes the largest proportion among the three loss categories and shows a sharp increase under the external excitations. All these three losses contribute to the growth of dozens of times in total economic loss. Notably, commercial buildings exhibit the highest loss amplification due to their functional and occupancy characteristics. These findings emphasize the necessity of integrating corrosion-aftershock effects and multidimensional loss components into seismic loss assessments to inform urban resilience strategies, life-safety planning, and postdisaster recovery.