Out‐of‐plane seismic behaviour of rocking masonry walls

The evaluation of the out‐of‐plane behaviour of unreinforced walls is one of the most debated topics in the seismic assessment of existing masonry buildings. The discontinuous nature of masonry and its interaction with the remainder of the building make the dynamic modelling of out‐of‐plane response troublesome. In this paper, the results of a shaking table laboratory campaign on a tuff masonry, natural scale, U‐shaped assemblage (façade adjacent to transverse walls) are presented. The tests, excited by scaled natural accelerograms, replicate the behaviour of external walls in existing masonry buildings, from the beginning of rocking motion to overturning. Two approaches have been developed for modelling the out‐of‐plane seismic behaviour: the discrete element method and an SDOF analytic model. Both approaches are shown to be capable of reproducing the experimental behaviour in terms of maximum rotation and time history dynamic response. Finally, test results and numerical time history simulations have been compared with the Italian seismic code assessment procedures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analytical and empirical models for predicting the drift capacity of modern unreinforced masonry walls

Displacement‐based seismic assessment of buildings containing unreinforced masonry (URM) walls requires as input, among others, estimates of the in‐plane drift capacity at the considered limit states. Current codes assess the drift capacity of URM walls by means of empirical models with most codes relating the drift capacity to the failure mode and wall slenderness. Comparisons with experimental results show that such relationships result in large scatter and usually do not provide satisfactory predictions. The objective of this paper is to determine trends in drift capacities of modern URM walls from 61 experimental tests and to investigate whether analytical models could lead to more reliable estimates of the displacement capacity than the currently used empirical models. A recently developed analytical model for the prediction of the ultimate drift capacity for both shear and flexure controlled URM walls is introduced and simplified into an equation that is suitable for code implementation. The approach follows the idea of plastic hinge models for reinforced concrete or steel structures. It explicitly considers the influence of crushing due to flexural or shear failure in URM walls and takes into account the effect of kinematic and static boundary conditions on the drift capacity. Finally, the performance of the analytical model is benchmarked against the test data and other empirical formulations. It shows that it yields significantly better estimates than empirical models in current codes. The paper concludes with an investigation of the sensitivity of the ultimate drift capacity to the wall geometry, static, and kinematic boundary conditions.     

Multi‐directional response of unreinforced masonry walls: experimental and computational investigations

This paper describes the results of an experimental and numerical study that focused on multi‐directional behavior of unreinforced masonry walls and established the requisite of the related proposed design equations. The tests were conducted following several sets of multi‐directional loading combinations imposed on the top plane of the wall along with considering monotonic and cyclic quasi‐static loading protocols. Various boundary conditions, representing possible wall–roof connections, were also considered for different walls to investigate the influence of rotation of the top plane of the wall on the failure modes. The results of the tests were recorded with a host of high precision data acquisition systems, showing three‐dimensional displacements of a grid on the surface of the wall. Finite element models of the walls are developed using the commercial software package ABAQUS/Explicit compiled with a FORTRAN subroutine (VUMAT) written by the authors. The experimental results were then used to validate the finite element models and the developed user‐defined material models. With the utility of validated models, a parametric study was performed on a set of parameters with dominant influence on the behavior of the wall system under in‐plane and out‐of‐plane loading combinations. The experimental and numerical results are finally used to investigate the adequacy of ASCE 41 empirical equations, and some insights and recommendations are made. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic retrofi tting of RC columns with RC jackets and wing walls with different structural details

An original reinforced concrete(RC) column and four strengthened specimens, two with RC jackets and two with wing walls, were tested in this study. The original column specimen was designed to comply with older(pre-1999) design standards so that the usual detailing defi ciencies in existing school buildings in Taiwan could be simulated. Two different structural details were chosen to fabricate the full-scale specimens for each retrofi tting technique. The study confi rmed that either RC jacketing or the installation of wing walls with two different structural details can effectively improve the stiffness and strength of an existing column. RC jacketing shows a better improvement in energy dissipation and ductility when compared to the columns with wing walls installed. This is because the two RC jacketed columns experienced a fl exural failure, while a shear failure was found in the two columns with the wing walls installed, and thus led to a drastic decrease of the maximum lateral strengths and ductility. Since many factors may affect the installation of a post-installed anchor, it is better to use standard hooks to replace post-installed anchors in some specifi c points when using RC jacketing or installing wing walls.     

Cyclic response of masonry infilled RC frames: Experimental results and simplified modeling

The recent large interest in nonlinear seismic analysis methods, static and dynamic, has required proper strategies of modeling based on reliable, and at the same time easy to use, constitutive laws for the structural elements. Regarding the behavior of framed structures, special attention has to be devoted to infills because of the key role they play in modifying overall stiffness, strength and ductility under seismic excitation. Pointing out the attention on this topic the paper discusses a criteria for modeling the structural behavior of infills based on a macromodeling approach, that is to say on the substitution of infills with diagonal pin jointed struts. Is here shown how multilinear plastic link elements governed by a hysteretic Pivot model, available in different FEM codes, can be appropriately used to model the equivalent struts to perform linear or nonlinear analyses. In order to enlarge experimental knowledge on cyclic behavior of infilled frames structures and as reference for developing the above mentioned modeling strategy, an experimental campaign on single-storey, single-bay, fully infilled frames with different kinds of masonry and subjected to lateral cyclical loads, was carried out, and some others available in the literature are referred to. Validation of Pivot modeling approach was carried out comparing experimental results and computer simulations of the experimental tests. In the paper hysteresis parameters values calibrating Pivot law are also given for involved masonry infills typologies and some proposals for correlation between strength and stiffness of infilled frames and of masonry infills are provided as a tool for the quick calibration of the Pivot model in practical applications.     

Evaluation of force-based and displacement-based out-of-plane seismic assessment methods for unreinforced masonry walls through refined model simulations

The performance of force-based and displacement-based seismic assessment methods for the life-safety limit state check of out-of-plane loaded unreinforced masonry walls is evaluated on the basis of refined numerical simulations. For this purpose, a discrete element model of a vertically spanning wall is built and validated against experimental results from static and dynamic test conditions. The model is then analysed for a large range of wall configurations. For each configuration, a static pushover analysis and a series of incremental dynamic analyses are run, the latter permitting to determine the capacity of the wall under dynamic loading. The accuracy of the assessment methods in predicting the acceleration at which the walls collapse is evaluated. It is found that the displacement-based method is more accurate, robust, and safe than the force-based method. The comparison also shows that for walls characterised by a relatively high ratio of axial load to Euler's critical load, both assessment methods lead to an overestimation of the wall capacity. As a remedy, a modification to the methods based on a recently developed mechanical model is put forward and tested. For the force-based method, it is additionally suggested to set for walls with relatively high overburden ratios the behaviour factor equal to 1. To ensure reproducibility of this study, all input and output files of the numerical simulations are made publicly available.     

Liquefaction behaviour of loose and compacted pond ash

Most of the ash produced all over the world is primarily disposed off by wet disposal method onto the ash ponds, which are occupying huge valuable lands. This disposal problem can be minimized by utilizing ash in large geotechnical earthworks. However, its use in earthquake prone areas requires thorough understanding of its liquefaction resistance and nature of development of excess pore pressures under dynamic loading conditions. Investigations have been carried out in this paper on the liquefaction behaviour of pond ash by conducting cyclic triaxial tests on inflow and outflow ash samples collected from two different ash ponds. Distinctly different liquefaction phenomenon was observed for the ash samples from inflow and outflow points of the same ash pond. Inflow samples exhibited higher cyclic resistance than outflow samples and their strengths were comparable with the natural sands. Further studies revealed that the influence of various factors on liquefaction susceptibility of both the types of ashes is similar to that of natural sands.     

Seismic response and design of RC structures with plan-eccentric masonry infills

The bidirectional response of a two-storey RC frame structure with two adjacent sides infilled is studied through shaking table tests and non-linear dynamic analyses. The pre-cracking stiffness of the infills is large enough to impose twisting of the infilled structure about the common corner of the two infilled sides, with predominant period close to that of translation of the symmetric bare structure in the two horizontal directions. Parametric analyses and test results show that the peak displacement components of the corner column of the two open sides are about the same as (or slightly less than) those of the bare structure under the same bidirectional excitation, but take place simultaneously. This simultaneity of peak local demands from the two components of the motion seems to be the only effect of plan-eccentric infilling that needs to be taken into account in the design of the RC structure. Despite their very high slenderness (height-to-thickness ratio of about 30), infill panels survive out-of-plane peak accelerations of 0·6g at the base of the structure or 1·3–1·75g at their centre. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.