Structural properties of adobe dwellings in Cusco for seismic risk assessment

Abstract

According to the last national census, 35% of the Peruvian dwellings are made with adobe or tapial (rammed earth). In Cusco, a city located at the Peruvian highlands, around 75% of the building stock is constructed with earth. Besides, Cusco is relatively seismically active and thus seismic risk assessment studies are warranted. For example, on May 21, 1950, an earthquake seriously damaged almost all the buildings in Cusco, which a maximum estimated acceleration of 300 gals. This work looks at the structural properties of adobe buildings in Cusco for use in seismic risk assessment. The geometrical properties of typical dwellings from Cusco have been established according to a building-by-building survey carried out at the Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). Then, a database containing the principal geometrical properties of 30 dwellings has been created which has allowed the mean, standard deviation and probability density functions (PDF) to be defined for parameter such as storey height, wall length, etc.