• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제65권5호
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• pp.611-619
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• 2018

This paper addresses numerical modeling and nonlinear analysis of unreinforced masonry walls and vaults externally strengthened using fiber reinforced polymers (FRP). The aim of the research is to provide a simple method for design of strengthening interventions for masonry arched structures while considering the nonlinear behavior. Several brick masonry walls and vaults externally strengthened by FRP which have been previously tested experimentally are modeled using finite elements. Numerical modeling and nonlinear analysis are performed using commercial software. Description of the modeling, material characterization and solution parameters are given. The obtained numerical results demonstrate that externally applied FRP strengthening increased the ultimate capacity of the walls and vaults and improved their failure mode. The numerical results are in good agreement with the experimentally obtained ultimate failure load, maximum displacement and crack pattern; which demonstrates the capability of the proposed modeling scheme to simulate efficiently the actual behavior of FRP-strengthened masonry elements. Application is made on a historic masonry dome and the numerical analysis managed to explain its structural behavior before and after strengthening. The modeling approach may thus be regarded a practical and valid tool for design of strengthening interventions for contemporary or historic unreinforced masonry elements using externally bonded FRP.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제26권5호
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• pp.363-382
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• 2024

In India's north-eastern region, low-strength autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks are widely used for constructing masonry structures, making them susceptible to lateral forces due to their low tensile and shear strengths and brittleness nature. The absence of earthquake-resistant attributes further compromises their resilience during seismic events. An economically viable solution to enhance the structural integrity of these masonry structures involves integrating steel wire mesh within the masonry mortar joints. This study investigates the in-plane shear behaviour of AAC masonry by employing two approaches: incorporating steel wire mesh within the masonry bed joint "BJ" and the masonry bed and head joint "BHJ". These approaches aim to augment strength and ductility, potentially serving as earthquake-resistant attributes in masonry structures. Three distinct variations of steel wire mesh and three reinforcing arrangements, i.e. (-), (L) and (Z) arrangement were employed to reinforce the two approaches. The test result reveals a significant enhancement in structural performance upon inclusion of steel wire mesh in both reinforcing approaches, with the "BHJ" approach outperforming the "BJ" approach and the unreinforced masonry, along with increase in capacity as the wire mesh size increases. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the reinforcing arrangement is ranked with the (Z) arrangement showing the largest performance, followed by the (L) and (-) arrangement.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제26권6호
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• pp.489-499
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• 2024

Infill masonry walls are vulnerable to lateral loads, including seismic, wind, and concentrated push loads. Various strengthening metal fittings have been proposed to improve lateral load resistance, particularly against seismic loads. This study introduces the use of post-compressed wedges as a novel reinforcement method for infill masonry walls to enhance lateral load resistance. The resistance of the infill masonry wall against lateral-concentrated push loads was assessed using an out-of-plane push-over test on specimens sized 2,300×2,410×190 mm³. The presence or absence of wedges and wedge spacing were set as variables. The push-over test results showed that both the unreinforced specimen and the specimen reinforced with 300 mm spaced wedges toppled, while the specimen reinforced with 100 mm spaced wedges remained upright. Peak loads were measured to be 0.74, 29.77, and 5.88 kN for unreinforced specimens and specimens reinforced with 100 mm and 300 mm spaced wedges, respectively. Notably, a tighter reinforcement spacing yielded a similar strength, as expected, which was attributed to the increased friction force between the masonry wall and steel frame. The W-series specimens exhibited a trend comparable to that of the displacement ductility ratio. Overall, the findings validate that post-compressed wedges improve the out-of-plane strength of infill masonry walls.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제6권6호
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• pp.611-625
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• 2014

This paper presents a simple methodology that integrates an improved storey shear modelling, Incremental Dynamic Analysis and Monte Carlo Simulation in order to carryout vulnerability analysis towards development of fragility curves for Unreinforced Brick Masonry buildings. The methodology is demonstrated by developing fragility curves of a single storey Unreinforced Brick Masonry building for which results of experiment under lateral load is available in the literature. In the study presented, both uncertainties in mechanical properties of masonry and uncertainties in the characteristics of earthquake ground motion are included. The research significance of the methodology proposed is that, it accommodates a new method of damage grade classification which is based on 'structural performance characteristics' instead of 'fixed limiting values'. The usefulness of such definition is discussed as against the existing practice.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.233-256
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• 2011

This paper investigates the applicability of newly developed Cu-Al-Mn shape memory alloy (SMA) bars to retrofitting of historical masonry constructions by performing quasi-static tests of half-scale brick walls subjected to cyclic out-of-plane flexure. Problems associated with conventional steel reinforcing bars lie in pinching, or degradation of stiffness and strength under cyclic loading, and in their inability to restrain residual deformations in structures during and after intense earthquakes. This paper attempts to resolve the problems by applying newly developed Cu-Al-Mn SMA bars, characterized by large recovery strain, low material cost, and high machinability, as partial replacements for steel bars. Three types of brick wall specimens, unreinforced, steel reinforced, and SMA reinforced specimens are prepared. The specimens are subjected to quasi-static cyclic loading up to rotation angle enough to cause yielding of reinforcing bars. Corresponding nonlinear finite element models are developed to simulate the experimental observations. It was found from the experimental and numerical results that both the steel reinforced and SMA reinforced specimens showed substantial increment in strength and ductility as compared to the unreinforced specimen. The steel reinforced specimen showed pinching and significant residual elongation in reinforcing bars while the SMA reinforced specimen did not. Both the experimental and numerical observations demonstrate the superiority of Cu-Al-Mn SMA bars to conventional steel reinforcing bars in retrofitting historical masonry constructions.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.149-160
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• 2023

Over the course of the last 4-5 years, India's northeastern region have widely used Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) blocks to construct load-bearing masonry structures. The aim of this investigation is to examine the shear characteristics of AAC masonry triplet assemblage strengthened by using two techniques, i.e., the bead joint (BJ) and the bed-head joint (BHJ) technique. Three unique variations of wire mesh were involved in the strengthening method. Furthermore, three strengthening configurations were used to strengthen each of the three wire mesh variations and the two-strengthening method, i.e. (-), L and (Z) configuration. The unreinforced and reinforced triplet masonry wallets were tested under direct shear test. From the results obtained, the 'BJ'triplet masonry wallets observed an enhanced in shear strength of about 2.23% to 23.33 % whereas the 'BHJ' triplet masonry wallets observed an enhanced in shear strength of about 22.92% to 50.69%. The "BHJ" strengthening method effectively enhance the shear strength of the triplet masonry wallets compared to the "BJ" and the "UR" wallets with an increase in capacity as the wire mesh strength increases. Furthermore, in terms of the strengthening configuration, the (Z) configuration performs better, followed by the (L) and (-) configuration demonstrating the strengthening configuration effectiveness.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.195-215
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• 2016

Rehabilitation of historical unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings is a priority in many parts of the world, since those buildings are a living part of history and a testament of human achievement of the era of their construction. Many of these buildings are still operational; comprising brittle materials with no reinforcements, with spatially distributed mass and stiffness, they are not encompassed by current seismic assessment procedures that have been developed for other structural types. To facilitate the difficult task of selecting a proper rehabilitation strategy - often restricted by international treaties for non-invasiveness and reversibility of the intervention - and given the practical requirements for the buildings' intended reuse, this paper presents a practical procedure for assessment of seismic demands of URM buildings - mainly historical constructions that lack a well-defined diaphragm action. A key ingredient of the method is approximation of the spatial shape of lateral translation, ${\Phi}$, that the building assumes when subjected to a uniform field of lateral acceleration. Using ${\Phi}$ as a 3-D shape function, the dynamic response of the system is evaluated, using the concepts of SDOF approximation of continuous systems. This enables determination of the envelope of the developed deformations and the tendency for deformation and damage localization throughout the examined building for a given design earthquake scenario. Deformation demands are specified in terms of relative drift ratios referring to the in-plane and the out-of-plane seismic response of the building's structural elements. Drift ratio demands are compared with drift capacities associated with predefined performance limits. The accuracy of the introduced procedure is evaluated through (a) comparison of the response profiles with those obtained from detailed time-history dynamic analysis using a suite of ten strong ground motion records, five of which with near-field characteristics, and (b) evaluation of the performance assessment results with observations reported in reconnaissance reports of the field performance of two neoclassical torsionally-sensitive historical buildings, located in Thessaloniki, Greece, which survived a major earthquake in the past.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제9권4호
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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.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• 제26권2호
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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.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.99-118
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• 2013

Earthquakes, which are unavoidable natural phenomena in Turkey, have often produced economic and social disaster. The latest destructive earthquakes happened in Van city. Van, Turkey, earthquakes with M = 7.2 occurred on 23 October 2011 at 13:41 (local time), whose epicenter was about 16 km north of Van (Tabanlivillage) and M = 5.6 on 9 November 2011 epicentered near the town of Edremit south of Van in eastern Turkey and caused the loss of life and heavy damages. Both earthquakes killed 644 people and 2608 people were injured. Approximately 4000 buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged. The majority of the damaged structures were seismically insufficient, unreinforced masonry and adobe buildings in rural areas. In this paper, site surveys of the damaged masonry and adobe buildings are presented and the reasons for the caused damages are discussed in detail.