• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.17-26
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• 2020

This study examined the structural effectiveness of the unbonded technique originally developed for seismic strengthening of unreinforced masonry walls on the basis of the prestressed steel bars and glass fiber (GF) grids. The masonry walls were strengthened by using individual steel bars or GF grids and their combination. Test results showed that the proposed technique was favorable in enhancing the strength, stiffness, and ductility of the masonry walls. When compared with the lateral load capacity, stiffness at the ascending branch of the lateral load-displacement curve, and energy dissipation capacity of the unstrengthened control wall, the increasing ratios were 110%, 120%, and 360%, respectively, for the walls strengthened with the individual GF grids, 140%, 130%, and 510%, respectively, for the walls strengthened with the individual steel bars, and 160%, 130%, and 840%, respectively, for the walls strengthened with the combination of steel bars and GF grids. The measured lateral load capacities of masonry walls strengthened with the developed technique were in relatively good agreement with the predictions by the equations proposed by Yang et al. Overall, the developed technique is quite promising in enhancing the seismic performance of unreinforced masonry walls.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.46-49
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• 2006

In general, the shear behavior mode of URM wall expresses four types of modes such as rocking failure, sliding shear failure, toe crushing failure, and diagonal tension failure. From the comparison of each equation according to the shear behavior modes, the failure modes based on the aspect ratio and vertical axial stress can be expected. The objectives of this study is to find out the shear behavior of URM wall with different aspect ratio. The test results show that the aspect ratio is understood as an important variable.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.116-124
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• 2011

RC frames with unreinforced masonry infiledl walls are common in worldwide. Since infilled walls are normally considered as non-structural elements, their presence is often ignored by engineers. In this study, to improve the seismic performance of masonry walls, hexagonal block was developed and the influence of masonry infilled wall on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete(RC) frames that were designed in accordance with current code provisions without the consideration of earthquake loadings are investigated. Two 1/2 scale, single story, single bay, frame specimens were tested. The parameters investigated included that the strength of infilled wallls with respect to that of the lateral load history. The experimental results indicate that infilled walls can significantly improve the lateral stiffness and strength of RC frames. The lateral loads developed by the infilled frame specimen is higher than that of the bare frame. It also indicates that infilled walls can be potentially used to improve the performance of existing nonductile frames. For this purpose. methods should be developed to avoid irreparable damage and catastrophic failure.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.28-39
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• 2013

The most common housing type in Korea is low-rise buildings with unreinforced masonry walls (UMWs) that have been known as a vulnerable seismic-force-resisting system (SFRS) due to the lack of ductility capacities compared to high lateral stiffness of an UMW. However, there are still a little experimental investigation on the shear strength and stiffness of UMWs and on the seismic performance of buildings using UMWs as a SFRS. In Korea, the shear strength and stiffness of UMWs have been evaluated with the equations suggested in FEMA 356 which can not reflect the structural and material characteristics, and workmanship of domestic UMW construction. First of all, this study demonstrates the differences in shear strength and stiffness of UMWs obtained from between FEMA 356 and test results. The influence of these differences on the seismic performance of UMW buildings is then discussed with incremental dynamic analyses results of a prototype UMW building that were selected by the site survey of more than 200 UMW buildings and existing test results of UMWs. The seismic performance assessment of the prototype UMW building are analyzed based on collapse margin ratios and beta values repesenting uncertainty of seismic capacity. Analysis results show that the seismic performance of the UMW building estimated using the equations in FEMA 356 underestimates both a collapse margin ratio and a beta value compared to that estimated by test results. Whatever the estimation is carried out two cases, the seismic performance of the prototype building does not meet the criteria prescribed in a current Korean seismic code and about 90% collapse probability presents for more than 30-year-old UMW buildings under earthquakes with 2400 return years.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1037-1053
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• 2015

This paper presents finite element (FE) based pushover analysis of a reinforced concrete structure with a two-leaf cavity wall (TLCW) to estimate the performance level of this structure. In addition to this, an unreinforced masonry (URM) model was selected for comparison. Simulations and analyses of these structures were performed using the DIANA FE program. The mentioned structures were selected as two storeys and two bays. The dimensions of the structures were scaled 1:1.5 according to the Cauchy Froude similitude law. A shake table experiment was implemented on the reinforced concrete structure with the two-leaf cavity wall (TLCW) at the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) in Lisbon, Portugal. The model that simulates URM was not experimentally studied. This structure was modelled in the same manner as the TLCW. The purpose of this virtual model is to compare the respective performances. Two nonlinear analyses were performed and compared with the experimental test results. These analyses were carried out in two phases. The research addresses first the analysis of a structure with only reinforced concrete elements, and secondly the analysis of the same structure with reinforced concrete elements and infill walls. Both researches consider static loading and pushover analysis. The experimental pushover curve was plotted by the envelope of the experimental curve obtained on the basis of the shake table records. Crack patterns, failure modes and performance curves were plotted for both models. Finally, results were evaluated on the basis of the current regulation ASCE/SEI 41-06.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.449-458
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• 2018

Earthquakes have shown the vulnerability of unreinforced masonry (URM) structures. The aim of this research is to study a technique for in-plane seismic retrofitting of URM walls in which both diagonal and vertical steel strips are added to a single side of a URM wall. Specimens have been tested under quasi-static cyclic lateral load in combination with constant vertical load. The tests show that vertical and diagonal strips cause a significant increase in seismic capacity in terms of both strength (about 200%) and displacement at maximum (about 20%). Furthermore, this technique caused the failure modes of URM walls were influenced.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.312-319
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the strength of piers subjected to earthquake ground motion. In particular, the piers of an unreinforced masonry wall under in-plane seismic loading are considered with emphasis. For this purpose, several pier strength equations in seismic rehailitation provisions such as UCBC, FEMA 178, FEMA 273, and FEMA 306 are compared. This strength equations in different provision are applied for calculating the strength of a pier in building. According to the results of this study, it is shown that the assessment procedure based on FEMA 178 overestimated pier strengths comparing to other provisions when all piers are in Rocking-controlled mode.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.6
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• pp.677-691
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• 2019

In recent years, interest is growing in the engineering community on the experimental assessment and the theoretical prediction of the out-of-plane (OOP) seismic response of unreinforced masonry (URM) infills, which are widespread in Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings in Europe and in the Mediterranean area. In the literature, some mechanical-based models for the prediction of the entire OOP force-displacement response have been formulated and proposed. However, the small number of experimental tests currently available has not allowed, up to current times, a robust and reliable evaluation of the predictive capacity of such response models. To enrich the currently available experimental database, six pure OOP tests on URM infills in RC frames were carried out at the Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II. Test specimens were built with the same materials and were different only for the thickness of the infill walls and for the number of their edges mortared to the confining elements of the RC frames. In this paper, the results of these experimental tests are briefly recalled. The main aim of this study is comparing the experimental response of test specimens with the prediction of mechanical models presented in the literature, in order to assess their effectiveness and contribute to the definition of a robust and reliable model for the evaluation of the OOP seismic response of URM infill walls.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2021

This experimental study was conducted to evaluate the in-plane and out-of-plane seismic performances of an unreinforced masonry walls (URMs) strengthened with prestressed steel-bar truss systems developed in the present investigation. The truss systems were installed on both faces of the walls. All the wall specimens were subjected to lateral in-plane or out-of-plane cyclic loads at the fixed gravity stress of 0.25 MPa. The seismic performance of the strengthened specimens was compared to that measured in the counterpart URM. When compared with the lateral load-displacement curve of the URM, the strengthened walls exhibited the following improvements: 190% for initial stiffness, 180% for peak strength, 610% for accumulated energy dissipation capacity, and 510% for equivalent damping ratio under the in-plane state; the corresponding improvements under the out-of-plane state were 230% for initial stiffness, 190% for peak strength, 240% for accumulated energy dissipation capacity, and 120% for equivalent damping ratio, respectively. These results indicate that the developed technique is very promising in enhancing the overall seismic performance of URM.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.3_4
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• pp.527-537
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• 2004

Consequence-Based Engineering (CBE) is a new paradigm proposed by the Mid-America Earthquake Center (MAE) to guide evaluation and rehabilitation of building structures and networks in areas of low probability - high consequence earthquakes such as the central region of the U.S. The principal objective of CBE is to minimize consequences by prescribing appropriate intervention procedures for a broad range of structures and systems, in consultation with key decision makers. One possible intervention option for rehabilitating unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, widely used for essential facilities in Mid-America, is passive energy dissipation (PED). After the CBE process is described, its application in the rehabilitation of vulnerable URM building construction in Mid-America is illustrated through the use of PED devices attached to flexible timber floor diaphragms. It is shown that PED's can be applied to URM buildings in situations where floor diaphragm flexibility can be controlled to reduce both out-of-plane and in-plane wall responses and damage. Reductions as high as 48% in roof displacement and acceleration can be achieved as demonstrated in studies reported below.