New method proposal for cost analysis of earthquake strengthening processes of reinforced concrete educational buildings in Turkey: Example of educational buildings in Istanbul

Türkiye is an earthquake country and constantly experiences earthquakes. These earthquakes can have devastating effects on small and large scales. Considering the earthquakes that have occurred in the past and are still occurring, it can be seen that Turkey has sought solutions many times to take certain precautions against earthquakes. Among these measures, the ones that can be taken for buildings are called earthquake strengthening. In this study, issues such as the measures taken against earthquakes in Türkiye, the dimensions of the earthquake, the place of earthquake and seismic retrofit in the literature, the studies carried out on this subject by general and local authorities, authorized institutions and organizations from pas to present, and seismic retrofitting, project and cost processes of reinforced buildings will be examined. With this study, the earthquake strengthening cost processes of buildings, which are a part of the earthquake issue generally defined in the literature, will be examined. It is known that in our country, the last step in making a decision to retrofit or demolish a building that is technically suitable for strengthening against earthquakes is to make a cost analysis. It is known that making this decision depends on the ratio of the cost of retrofitting the structure to the cost of building it from scratch. It is generally known that if this ratio exceeds 40%, a decision to demolish the buildings is made, and if it remains below 40%, a decision to strengthen the buildings can be made. However, since this method does not reference any economic evaluation method, it does not give accurate results. In this study, a new method will be proposed instead of the decision-making method with the 40% value known to be used in the decision stage. For the study to be carried out, the educational buildings in Istanbul, whose reinforcement projects were completed and official decisions were taken, were selected as examples. In the first stage of the study, a new method proposal that gives the current economic values of the buildings selected as examples will be examined. In the second stage, a new coefficient calculated in addition to this suggestion obtained from the literature will be proposed. In the final stage, it will be examined whether this coefficient gives reasonable results by applying it to costs. The decisions to be taken according to the new method proposal will be compared with the official decisions taken and the decisions made with the 40% value. Thus, it will be tested whether the new method proposal gives correct results. Keywords: Earthquake, retrofitting, retrofitting cost, cost analysis, reinforced concrete educational buildings