• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.6
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• pp.799-810
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• 2022

This study investigated the effect of the strengthening efficiency of unbonded steel-bar truss system on the out-of-plane behavior of perforated masonry walls. Four full-scale unreinforced masonry (URM) walls with two different planes were prepared using the unbonded steel-bar truss system and a URM walls without strengthening. All masonry walls were tested under constant axial and cyclic lateral loads. The obtained test results indicated that the pinching effect in the out-plane behavior of masonry walls tends to decrease in the in- and out-of-plane strengthened URM walls using the unbonded steel-bar truss system with the higher prestressing force ratio (R_p) of vertical reinforcing bars in the unbonded steel-bar truss system, regardless of the perforated type of the masonry wall. Consequently, the highest maximum shear resistance and cumulative dissipated energy at peak load in the post-peak behavior were observed in the in- and out-plane strengthened URM walls with the highest R_p values, which are 2.7 and 6.0 times higher than those of URM. In particular, the strengthening efficiency of the unbonded steel-bar truss system was primarily attributed to the vertical prestressed steel-bars rather than the diagonal steel-bars, which indicates that the strains in the vertical prestressed steel-bars at the peak load were approximately 1.6 times higher than those in the diagonal steel-bars.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2019.11a
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• pp.180-181
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• 2019

South Korea has long been without major earthquakes. But 317 public facilities have been damaged by Po-Hang earthquake. Among them, 103 educational facilities suffered 25.6 billion won worth of damage. This is the most damaging of public facilities. The earthquake damage was mainly centered on non-seismic retrofit educational facilities and masonry architectural wall systems installed on the outer walls of buildings. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a filling material that can be applied to the non-seismic retrofit of masonry architectural wall systems installed on the outer walls of educational facilities. To achieve the objective, first, set the filling material requirements. Second, set the sequence model of experiments and prepare for the experiment. Third, after the experiment, analyze the results obtained through the experiment. Forth, the optimal filling material is selected by comparing the analyzed results with the requirements. As a results, E-S-X sample using epoxy resin were selected for the seismic retrofit of masonry architectural wall systems in educational facilities. In the future, this study can be used as a basic material for developing seismic reinforcement methods guidelines in domestic existing educational facilities.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.459-469
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• 2020

An external prestressed steel-bar truss unit was developed as a new strengthening technology to enhance the seismic performance of an in-plane masonry wall structure while taking advantage of the benefits of a prestressed system. The presented method consists of six steel bars: two prestressed vertical bars to introduce a prestressing force on the masonry wall, two diagonal bars to resist shear deformation, and two horizontal bars to maintain the configuration. To evaluate the effects of this new technique, four full-scale specimens, including a control specimen, were tested under combined loadings that included constant-gravity axial loads and cyclic lateral loads. The experimental results were analyzed in terms of the shear strength, initial stiffness, dissipated energy, and strain history. The efficiency of the external prestressed steel-bar truss unit was validated. In particular, a retrofitted specimen with an axial load level of 0.024 exhibited a more stable post behavior and higher energy dissipation than a control specimen with an observed complete sliding failure. The four vertical bars of the adjacent retrofitting units created a virtual column, and their strain values did not change until they reached the peak shear strength. The shear capacity of the masonry wall structure with external prestressed steel-bar truss units could be predicted using the model suggested by Yang et al.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2018

In January 2018, the Ministry of Education published "Seismic design criteria for school buildings" and "Manual for seismic performance evaluation and retrofit of school buildings" to evaluate seismic performances through linear analysis. This paper evaluates the seismic performance of an old school building through the linear analysis. The target building was constructed in the late 1970s, and the seismic-force-resisting system was assumed to be a reinforced concrete moment frame with an un-reinforced masonry wall. As a result of the evaluation, the target building does not satisfy the 'life safety' level of 1.2 times the design spectrum. The average strength ratio of moment frames, an indicator of the level of seismic performance tends to be controlled by beams. However, through the Pohang earthquake, it was known that the short column effect caused by the partially infilled masonry wall caused shear failure of the columns in school buildings. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the linear analysis so that the column controls the average strength ratio of moment frames.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

In this study, the in-plane and out-of-plane seismic performance of the masonry wall strengthened using the steel bar truss system proposed by Hwang et al. (2021a, 2021b) or using FRP sheets were compared and evaluated. The maximum strength of the masonry wall reinforced with FRP sheets for the in-plane and out-of-plane loading was 71% and 85%, respectively, of that of the non-reinforced masonry wall. Meanwhile, the maximum strength of the masonry wall reinforced with the steel bar truss system was approximately 1.8 times higher than that of the non-reinforced masonry wall. Compared with the FRP sheet method, the steel bar truss system was excellent at improving the maximum load capacity, rigidity, and energy dissipation capacity. However, in the case of a masonry wall reinforced with FRP sheets, the masonry wall was overstrengthened with the FRP sheets covering the entire masonry wall, and it is considered that the overstrengthened specimen experienced sliding failure, resulting in a lower strength than the other specimens. A follow-up study is needed to compare the seismic performance of the specimen involving only a part of the masonry wall reinforced with the FRP sheets and the specimen reinforced using the steel bar truss system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.205-215
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• 2023

Currently, many studies are underway at home and abroad on the seismic performance evaluation and dry construction method of the masonry structure. In this study, a dry stack masonry wall system without mortar using concrete blocks is proposed, and investigate the seismic performance of dry filling wall frames through experimental studies. First, two types of standard blocks and key blocks were designed to assemble dry walls of concrete blocks. And then, three types of experiments were manufactured, including pure frame, 1/2 height filling wall frame, and full height filling wall frame, and cyclic load experiments in horizontal direction were performed to analyze crack patterns, load displacement history, rebar deformation yield, effective stiffness change, displacement ductility, and energy dissipation capacity. According to the experimental results, the full height filling wall frame had the largest horizontal resistance against the earthquake load and showed a high energy dissipation capacity. However, the 1/2 height filling wall frame requires attention because the filling wall constrains the effective span of the column, limiting the horizontal displacement of the frame. In addition, the concrete block was firmly assembled in the vertical direction of the wall as the horizontal movement between the concrete blocks was allowed within installation margin, and there was no dropping of the assembled concrete block.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.99-123
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• 2011

Brick veneer over steel stud backup wall is lighter and easier to construct compared to brick veneer over concrete masonry backup wall. However, due to the relatively low stiffness of the steel stud backup, the brick veneer tends to crack under wind load. This paper briefly introduces a new panelized brick veneer with steel frame backup wall system that is developed to potentially address this problem. The experimental study of the performance of this system under simulated wind loading is discussed in detail. The test setup details and the test specimens are introduced, results of major interests are presented, and performance of the new system is evaluated based on the test results.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2022

Debates on what is the first skyscraper have been ongoing from time to time since the construction of the Home Insurance Building in Chicago in 1885, which is generally recognized as the first built skyscraper. This paper attempts to verify this assertion through a detailed investigation after identifying the criteria that characterize a skyscraper. By considering and examining several competing buildings for the title of "first skyscraper" in terms of their levels of satisfying these criteria, the paper reconfirms that the Home Insurance Building in Chicago indeed qualifies as the first skyscraper and is the harbinger of future skyscrapers. By introducing technological and associated architectural innovations in this pioneering building, its designer William Le Baron Jenney paved the way for the construction of future skyscrapers. In traditional construction, heavy masonry walls especially at lower levels did not allow large window openings in exterior walls that would permit ample daylight. For the Home Insurance Building, originally built with 10 stories, Jenney created a metal-framed skeletal structure that carried the building's loads, making the building lighter and allowed for large windows permitting ample natural light to the building's interior. The exterior iron columns were encased in relatively small masonry piers mainly for fireproofing, weather-protection and façade aesthetics. Relying on the structural framing on the building's perimeter, the exterior masonry thus turned into a rudimentary "curtain wall" system, heralding the use of curtain wall construction in future skyscrapers. This building's innovative structural system led to what is known as the "Chicago Skeleton," and eventually produced remarkable skyscrapers all over the world.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.789-830
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• 2015

The recent re-assessment of the seismic hazard in Europe led for many regions of low to moderate seismicity to an increase in the seismic demand. As a consequence, several modern unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, constructed with reinforced concrete (RC) slabs that provide an efficient rigid diaphragm action, no longer satisfy the seismic design check and have been retrofitted by adding or replacing URM walls with RC walls. Of late, also several new construction projects have been conceived directly as buildings with both RC and URM walls. Despite the widespread use of such construction technique, very little is known about the seismic behaviour of mixed RC-URM wall structures and codes do not provide adequate support to designers. The aim of the paper is therefore to propose a displacement-based design methodology for the design of mixed RC-URM edifices and the retrofit of URM buildings by replacing or adding selected URM walls with RC ones. The article describes also two tools developed for estimating important quantities relevant for the displacement-based design of structures with both RC and URM walls. The tools are (i) a mechanical model based on the shear-flexure interaction between URM and RC walls and (ii) an elastic model for estimating the contribution of the RC slabs to the overturning moment capacity of the system. In the last part of the article the proposed design method is verified through nonlinear dynamic analyses of several case studies. These results show that the proposed design approach has the ability of controlling the displacement profile of the designed structures, avoiding concentration of deformations in one single storey, a typical feature of URM wall structures.

• 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.