Using an Interferometric radar to assess post-earthquake damage status of an urban building: a case study

This paper reports the use of an interferometric radar to support the detection of the main vibrating frequencies of a building damaged after the Mw 5.1, May 11th 2011, Lorca earthquake (Southeast Spain). The surveyed building, a reinforced concrete structure, was located in the San Fernando neighbourhood of the city of Lorca, where the earthquake caused severe damages. The radar survey was carried out some months after the earthquake. To assess the building capacity and fragility, a pushover analysis has been carried out. The building has been modelled by using the SAP2000 software. The goal of the study is to detect changes of the main natural frequencies of a specific building after the earthquake and, through a comparison of the building frequencies before and after the earthquake, to estimate the effect of the earthquake on the monitored building