• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.719-733
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• 2015

Seismic risk management of the built environment is integrated by two main stages, the assessment and the remedial measures to attain its reduction, representing both stages a complex task. The seismic risk of a certain structure located in a seismic zone is determined by the conjunct of the seismic hazard and its structural vulnerability. The hazard level mainly depends on the proximity of the site to a seismic source. On the other hand, the ground shaking depends on the seismic source, geology and topography of the site, but definitely on the inherent earthquake characteristics. Seismic hazard characterization of a site under study is suggested to be estimated by a combination of studies with the history of earthquakes. In this Paper, the most important methods of seismic vulnerability evaluation of buildings and their application are described. The selection of the most suitable method depends on different factors such as number of buildings, importance, available data and aim of the study. These approaches are classified in empirical, analytical, experimental and hybrid. For obtaining more reliable results, it is recommends applying a hybrid approach, which consists of a combination between methods depending on the case. Finally, a recommended approach depending on the building importance and aim of the study is described.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.411-425
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• 2020

Unreinforced masonry (URM) walls present low shear strength and are prone to brittle failure when subjected to inplane seismic overloads. This paper discusses the shear strengthening of URM walls with Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM) jackets. The available literature is thoroughly reviewed and an extended database is developed including available brick, concrete and stone URM walls retrofitted and subjected to shear tests to assess their strength. Further, the experimental results of the database are compared against the available shear strength design models from ACI 549.4R-13, CNR DT 215 2018, CNR DT 200 R1/2013, Eurocode 6 and Eurocode 8 guidelines as well as Triantafillou and Antonopoulos 2000, Triantafillou 1998, Triantafillou 2016. The performance of the available models is investigated and the prediction average absolute error (AAE) is as high as 40%. A new model is proposed that takes into account the additional contribution of the reinforcing mortar layer of the TRM jacket that is usually neglected. Further, the approach identifies the plethora of different block materials, joint mortars and TRM mortars and grids and introduces rational calibration of their variable contributions on the shear strength. The proposed model provides more accurate shear strength predictions than the existing models for all different types of the URM substrates, with a low AAE equal to 22.95%.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.527-534
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• 2022

EDCC (Eco-Friendly Ductile Cementitious Composites) is a recently created class of engineered cementitious composites that exhibit extremely high ductility and elastoplastic behavior under pure tension. EDCC contains reduced amounts of cement and very large volumes of fly ash. Due to these properties, EDCC has become one of the solutions to use in seismic upgrading. This paper discloses previous studies and research that discussed the seismic upgrading of unreinforced, non-grouted, unconfined, and non-load bearing masonry walls which are called URM infill walls using the EDCC technique. URM infill wall is one of the weak links in the building structure to withstand the earthquake waves, as the brittle behavior of the URM infill walls behaves poorly during seismic events. The purpose of this study is to fill a knowledge gap about the theoretical and experimental ways to use the EDCC in URM infill walls. The findings reflect the ability of the EDCC to change the behavior from brittle to ductile to a certain percentage behavior, increasing the overall drift before collapse as it increases the energy dissipation, and resists significant shaking under extensive levels with various types and intensities.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.205-214
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• 2010

Masonry structures have been used throughout the world for the construction of residential buildings. However, from a structural point of view, the masonry material is characterized by a very low tensile strength. Moreover, the bearing and shear capacity of masonry walls have been found to be vulnerable to earthquakes. In this study, to improve the seismic performance of masonry walls, hexagonal blocks were developed and six masonry walls made with hexagonal block were tested to failure under reversed cyclic lateral loading. This paper focuses on an experimental investigation of different types of wall with hexagonal blocks, i.e. walls with different hexagonal blocks and with different reinforcing bar arrangements, subjected to applied cyclic loads. The cracking, damage patterns and hysteretic feature were evaluated. Results from the hexagonal masonry wall were shown more damage reduction and less brittle failure in comparison to the existing rectangular masonry walls.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.81-90
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• 2020

A textile and capillary tube composite panel(TCP) was developed to simultaneously retrofit the seismic performance and the energy efficiency (e.g. heating or insulation performance) of existing unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. TCP is a light-weight mortar panel in which carbon textile reinforcements and capillary tubes are embedded. Textile reinforcements plays a role of seismic retrofit and capillary tubes that hot water circulates contribute to the energy retrofit. In this paper, the static cyclic loading tests were performed on the masonry walls with/without TCP to understand the seismic retrofit effect of TCP retrofit and the results were summarized. The results of the test showed that the TCP contributed to increase the capacity of the Shear strength and ductility of the URM walls. In addition, the deformation of the wall after cracking was substantially controlled by the carbon textile.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.213-226
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• 2018

This paper focuses on the seismic protection of slender old masonry structures by the implementation of prestressing devices at key locations. The devices are vertically and externally located inside the towers in order to be reversible and calibrated. An extensive parametric study on a selected slender tower is carried out based on more than 100 nonlinear static simulations aimed at investigating the impact of different parameters on the seismic performance: (i) different prestressing levels; (ii) shape memory alloy superelasticity and (iii) changes in prestressing-forces in all the stages of the analysis until failure and masonry toe crushing. The tendon materials under analysis are conventional prestressing steel, fiber-reinforced polymers of different fibers and shape memory alloys. The parametric study serves to select the most suitable prestressing device and optimal prestressing level able to dissipate more earthquake energy. The seismic energy dissipation is evaluated by comparing the structural capacity curves in original state and retrofitted.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.57-72
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• 2020

This paper presents the results of a monodirectional shaking table test on a full-scale unreinforced masonry cross vault characterized by asymmetric boundary conditions. The specimen represents a vault of the mosque of Dey in Algiers (Algeria), reproducing in detail the mechanical characteristics of masonry, and the constructive details including the presence of some peculiar wooden logs placed within the vault's abutments. The vault was tested with and without the presence of two steel bars which connect two opposite sides of the vault. The dynamic behaviour of both the vault's configurations were studied by using an incremental dynamic analysis up to the collapse of the vault without the steel bars. The use of an innovative high-resolution 3D optical system allowed measure displacement data of the cross vault during the shake table tests. The experimental results were analysed in terms of evolution of damage mechanisms, and in-plane and out-of-plane deformations. Moreover, the dynamic properties of the structure were investigated by means of an experimental modal analysis.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.20-27
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• 2021

The present study presents a nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) approach using the general program of Abaqus to evaluate the seismic response of unreinforced masonry walls strengthened with the steel bar truss system developed in the previous investigation. For finite element models of masonry walls, the concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) and meso-scale methods were considered on the basis of the stress-strain relationships under compression and tension and shear friction-slip relationship of masonry prisms proposed by Yang et al. in order to formulate the interface characteristics between brick elements and mortars. The predictions obtained from the FEA approach were compared with test results under different design parameters; as a result, a good agreement could be observed with respect to the crack propagation, failure mode, rocking strength, peak strength, and lateral load-displacement relationship of masonry walls. Thus, it can be stated that the proposed FEA approach shows a good potential for designing the seismic strengthening of masonry walls.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.229-251
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• 2022

In 2017, an intraplate earthquake of Mw 7.1 occurred 120 km from Mexico City (CDMX). Most collapsed structural buildings stroked by the earthquake were flat slab systems joined to reinforced concrete (RC) columns, unreinforced masonry, confined masonry, and dual systems. This article presents the simulated response of an actual six-story RC frame building with masonry infill walls that did not collapse during the 2017 earthquake. It has a structural system similar to that of many of the collapsed buildings and is located in a high seismic amplification zone. Five 3D numerical models were used in the study to model the seismic response of the building. The building dynamic properties were identified using an ambient vibration test (AVT), enabling validation of the building's finite element models. Several assumptions were made to calibrate the numerical model to the properties identified from the AVT, such as the presence of adjacent buildings, variations in masonry properties, soil-foundation-structure interaction, and the contribution of non-structural elements. The results showed that the infill masonry wall would act as a compression strut and crack along the transverse direction because the shear stresses in the original model (0.85 MPa) exceeded the shear strength (0.38 MPa). In compression, the strut presents lower stresses (3.42 MPa) well below its capacity (6.8 MPa). Although the non-structural elements were not considered to be part of the lateral resistant system, the results showed that these elements could contribute by resisting part of the base shear force, reaching a force of 82 kN.