Vulnerability of Non-Structural Elements (NSEs) in Buildings and Their Life Cycle Assessment: A Review

Abstract

Purpose: This paper conducts a review of the different research carried out recently on the behavior of non-structural elements (NSEs) and the life cycle assessment (LCA) during an earthquake. It focuses on the study conducted recently and identifies the gaps and way forward for future work. Methods: A systematic literature review was carried out among the different research works. The proposed literature review includes (i) identifying the recent research work using the keywords in available search engines, (ii) studying different research papers and selecting the relevant papers only, and (iii) vulnerability and LCA for NSEs and their research gaps. Results and discussions: A summary is given of the importance and type of NSEs under earthquakes, including life cycle cost assessment for NSE, environment life cycle assessment (ELCA) and social life cycle assessment (SLCA) for different facilities and the embodied energies. Conclusions and recommendations: This paper highlights the problems associated with NSEs. For new constructions, modifications to improve the performance of NSEs, particularly infill walls are under research, however for old buildings, their location is also vital. Numerical methods are performed using different tools available; however, implementation is a big challenge to economize the life cycle and its impact on the community.

Keywords

• non-structural elements (NSEs)
• life cycle cost assessment (LCA)
• social life cycle assessment
• environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA)