# A Hybrid ANN-GA Model for an Automated Rapid Vulnerability Assessment of Existing RC Buildings
## 2 Rapid Visual Screening Technique
External observations will determine the situations where the collision effect is in question. For this parameter, first of all, the situation of the building with the neighbouring buildings should be determined (Figure 7). After determining the position of the building relative to the adjacent buildings according to Figure 7, it should be decided whether the story levels in neighbouring buildings are the same or different, as sketched-up in Figure 8.  
Figure 1:0 Samples of regular and irregular plans of the buildings. Figure 1:1 Samples of short column. Figure 1:2 The location of a sample building relative to the neighbouring buildings. The seismicity of the region was also taken into account in this work. On the map shown in Figure 9, regions with ground accelerations of 0.40 g and greater are considered as the first-degree earthquake zone, regions with expected ground accelerations of 0.30-0.40 g are the second-degree earthquake zone, regions with expected ground accelerations of 0.20-0.30 g are the third-degree earthquake zone, regions with expected ground accelerations of 0.10-0.02 g represent the fourth-degree earthquake zone, and regions with expected ground accelerations of less than 0.10 g indicate the fifth-degree earthquake region [90; 91]. The structural system type is taken into account as a positive base point. No additional score is given for buildings with the RCF system, but a positive base score (Op) is given for buildings with the RCF structural system. The structural system and baseline scores are shown in Figure 1:3  
While determining the danger zone for the examined building, the local soil classes and earthquake zones recommended in the previous earthquake code (TSDC-2007) are taken into account, and the selection is made according to Figure 1:4 The danger zone is determined according to Table 4 by taking into account the local soil classes obtained from public institutions and the earthquake zone. For all negative parameters, except the apparent quality, determinations will be made as \"yes\" or \"no\". Negative parameter values (Oi) corresponding to these determinations will be taken as 1 and 0 for \"yes\" and \"no\" states, respectively. Suppose the apparent quality rating is \"good\". In that case, the negativity parameter value (Oi) will be taken as 0; if it is \"moderate\", 1 will be considered; and if it is \"poor\", 2 will be taken. The negative coefficients corresponding to each parameter are shown in Figure 1:5 \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Base Score**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Structural System Score (YSP)**} \\ \cline{3-7}
**Total Number of** & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Structural System**} \\ \cline{2-7}
**Stories** & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Danger Zone**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**RCF**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**RCF**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**RCFW**} \\ \cline{2-2} \cline{6-7}  & **I** & & & & & \\ \hline
1 and 2 & 90 & 120 & 160 & 195 & 0 & 100 \\
3 & 80 & 100 & 140 & 170 & 0 & 85 \\
4 & 70 & 90 & 130 & 160 & 0 & 75 \\
5 & 60 & 80 & 110 & 135 & 0 & 65 \\
6 and 7 & 50 & 65 & 90 & 110 & 0 & 55 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Base and structural system scores [71]. Figure 9: Earthquake zones map of Turkey [92]. The suggested values for each parameter are shown in Table 6, and the selection is made according to the number of stories. The building performance score (PP) is calculated according to Equation (1) after the total negativity score is determined by multiplying the negativity parameter values given in Table 3 by the negativity parameter points given in Table 4.  
\[\text{TP}=\text{PP}+\sum_{\text{i=1}}^{\text{n}}\text{O}_{\text{i}}\ ^{\text{x}}\ \text{OP}_{\text{i}}+\text{YSP} \tag{1}\]  
Here, TP is the base score; YSP indicates the structural system score. The flowchart of the 2013 Turkish Rapid Screening Method (PDRB-2013) [71] has been presented in Figure 10.  
Within the scope of this study, a total of 329 existing RC buildings in the province of Bitlis (Turkey) were taken into account.