Building vulnerability assessment on an urban scale: A case study on heavy rainfall events

¹ Fraunhofer-Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI, Am Klingelberg 1, 79588 Efringen-Kirchen, Germany
² Fraunhofer Center for the Security of Socio-Technical Systems, SIRIOS, Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31, 10589 Berlin, Germany

^* Corresponding author: julia.rosin@emi.fraunhofer.de

Abstract

This paper presents a semi-automated approach for assessing building vulnerability on an urban scale, specifically focusing on floods and heavy rainfall events. The method involves three steps: categorization of buildings using open geodata, development of parametric building models for each category, and probabilistic analysis to generate fragility curves. To overcome the challenge of analyzing individual buildings in a large area, generalized models based on building categories are utilized, reducing computational effort but introducing uncertainties. Probabilistic analyses are conducted by adjusting simulation parameters to address these uncertainties. The approach is applied to a reference area in Berlin as a case study. The results provide valuable insights into the vulnerability of individual buildings within different categories. This research contributes to the field of the vulnerability assessment of buildings by offering a practical and efficient method applicable at an urban scale. It enables informed decisionmaking and the development of risk reduction strategies.