Seismic Vulnerability of Educational Facilities in Seismically Active Zones: Case Study of Bengkulu, Indonesia

Abstract

The province of Bengkulu lies in a highly active seismic zone, so this study aims to evaluate the seismic vulnerability of the Faculty of Economics and Business building at Bengkulu University using an integrated approach that combines site-specific soil response analysis and dynamic structural analysis. Nonlinear soil response analysis was performed to determine surface ground-motion characteristics, while finite-element–based time-history dynamic analysis was used to assess structural behavior. Ground motion records from the 2007 Bengkulu–Mentawai, 1995 Kobe, and 1979 Coyote earthquakes were adopted as seismic inputs. The novelty of this research lies in the application of an integrated approach between site-specific soil response analysis and dynamic structural analysis in evaluating the seismic vulnerability of existing educational buildings, thereby producing a more realistic seismic performance assessment in earthquake-prone areas. The proposed integrated approach offers a more realistic and comprehensive evaluation of seismic performance for educational facilities in seismically active regions. The results show that clay soil layers generate the highest amplification, with the Kobe earthquake producing the maximum peak ground acceleration at the ground surface.

Keywords: seismic performance; ground response; structural dynamics; Peak Ground Acceleration; earthquake engineering.