The structural role played by masonry infills on RC building performances after the 2011 Lorca,Spain, earthquake

On May 11, 2011 an earthquake of magnitude 5.1 ( \(M_{w}\) ) struck Murcia region causing nine casualties and damage to buildings and infrastructures. Even if the main characteristics of the event would classify it as a moderate earthquake, the maximum Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) registered (equal to 0.37 g) exceeded significantly local code provisions in terms of hazard at the site. This high PGA was a result of directivity effects in the near source region. An overview of earthquake characteristics and damage observed is provided. Notwithstanding the lack of proper structural design characterizing building stock in the area, most of the losses were caused by non-structural damage. According to in field observations, it emerges that masonry infills provided additional, “not designed”, strength to reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. Observed damage data, collected after the earthquake, are shown and compared to the results of a simplified approach for nonstructural damage assessment of RC infilled structures (FAST vulnerability approach). The latter comparison provided a fair accordance between observed data and analytical results.     

Assessment of expected damage on buildings subjected to Lorca earthquake through an energy-based seismic index method and nonlinear dynamic response analyses

The city of Lorca (Spain) was hit on May 11th, 2011, by two consecutive earthquakes of magnitudes 4.6 and 5.2 M \(_\mathrm{w}\) , causing casualties and important damage in buildings. Many of the damaged structures were reinforced concrete frames with wide beams. This study quantifies the expected level of damage on this structural type in the case of the Lorca earthquake by means of a seismic index \(I_{v}\) that compares the energy input by the earthquake with the energy absorption/dissipation capacity of the structure. The prototype frames investigated represent structures designed in two time periods (1994–2002 and 2003–2008), in which the applicable codes were different. The influence of the masonry infill walls and the proneness of the frames to concentrate damage in a given story were further investigated through nonlinear dynamic response analyses. It is found that (1) the seismic index method predicts levels of damage that range from moderate/severe to complete collapse; this prediction is consistent with the observed damage; (2) the presence of masonry infill walls makes the structure very prone to damage concentration and reduces the overall seismic capacity of the building; and (3) a proper hierarchy of strength between beams and columns that guarantees the formation of a strong column-weak beam mechanism (as prescribed by seismic codes), as well as the adoption of counter-measures to avoid the negative interaction between non-structural infill walls and the main frame, would have reduced the level of damage from \(I_{v}\) \(\,=\,\) 1 (collapse) to about \(I_{v}\) \(\,=\,\) 0.5 (moderate/severe damage).     

Preliminary prediction of damage to residential buildings following the 21st August 2017 Ischia earthquake

On August 21st, 2017, an earthquake with duration magnitude M_d?=?4.0 and epicentre in Casamicciola Terme hit Ischia island, in the South of Italy. This event caused two fatalities and dozens of injured people. Moreover, despite the low magnitude, the earthquake produced significant damages to masonry and reinforced concrete (RC) buildings, with some partial or complete collapse of structures, in a very limited area close to the epicentre, while even at small distance from the most damaged zone the earthquake was just felt by local people and tourists. In the days after the event, discussions concerning the destructive effects of such an earthquake arose in the scientific community—as also reported by local and national media. In this paper, the seismic history of Ischia island is recalled to show and explain the peculiarity of the August 21st earthquake, which is also described in terms of ground motion and response spectra characteristics. The results of the first surveys carried out in Casamicciola Terme are reported, together with appropriate pictures, to introduce and explain the observed damage state of masonry and RC buildings in the epicentral zone. Then, data from the 15th general census of the population and dwellings (ISTAT) is used to define vulnerability classes according to the classification of the European Macrosismic Scale (EMS-98) (Grünthal, 1998). Seismic damage scenarios are then evaluated combining macro-seismic intensity values obtained using an interpolation method starting from QUEST macro-seismic survey data (Azzaro et al., 2017 ) and fragility curves for A-to-D vulnerability classes and for five damage states, from DS0 (no damage) to DS5 (collapse) trough a Monte Carlo simulation technique. The distributions of Usable, Temporarily or Partially Unusable, and Unusable buildings, which are obtained by using relationships between damage and usability judgments obtained through post-earthquake damage data collected after past seismic events, result in very good accordance with those published in September 1st, 2017 by the Department of Civil Protection, regarding a dataset of about 600 buildings.     

Changes in dynamic characteristics of Lorca RC buildings from pre- and post-earthquake ambient vibration data

This paper estimates fundamental translational period and damping ratio parameters and examines the changes in dynamic characteristics of a set of low-to-medium rise buildings in Lorca town (SE of Spain) affected by the May 11th, 2011 earthquake. These building parameters have been calculated analysing structural dynamic response from ambient vibration measurements recorded at top RC buildings pre- and post earthquake, using the Fast Fourier Transform and the Randomdec technique. The empirical expression relating period \((T)\) and number of floor \((N)\) here obtained analysing ambient noise recorded on 59 healthy buildings before the earthquake is \(T= (0.054\pm 0.002)\, N\) , very similar to others empirical period–height relationships obtained for RC structures in the European built environment but quite different from code provisions. Measurements performed in 34 damaged buildings show a period elongation after the quake according to \(T^{*} =(0.075\pm 0.002)\,N\) expression. Moreover, we found a rise of the fundamental period with the EMS’s grade of damage of buildings. In contrast to natural frequency, damping ratio \((\xi )\) do not shows a significant variation with earthquake damage degree and the product \(\xi \, T\) remains near constant.     

Consideration of aging and SSI effects on seismic vulnerability assessment of RC buildings

At present, the seismic vulnerability assessment of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings is made considering fixed base conditions; moreover, the mechanical properties of the building remain intact in time. In this study we investigate whether these two fundamental hypotheses are sound as aging and soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects might play a crucial role in the seismic fragility analysis of RC structures. Among the various aging processes, we consider the chloride-induced corrosion based on probabilistic modeling of corrosion initiation time and corrosion rate. Different corrosion aspects are considered in the analysis including the loss of reinforcement cross-sectional area, the degradation of concrete cover and the reduction of steel ultimate deformation. SSI is modeled by applying the direct one-step approach, which accounts simultaneously for inertial and kinematic interactions. Two-dimensional incremental dynamic analysis is performed to assess the seismic performance of the initial uncorroded ( \(\hbox {t}=0\) years) and corroded ( \(\hbox {t}=50\) years) RC moment resisting frame structures, having been designed with different seismic code levels. The time-dependent fragility functions are derived in terms of the spectral acceleration at the fundamental mode of the structure \(\hbox {S}_{\mathrm{a}}(\hbox {T}_{1}\) , 5 %) and the outcropping peak ground acceleration for the immediate occupancy and collapse prevention limit states. Results show an overall increase in seismic vulnerability over time due to corrosion highlighting the important influence of deterioration due to aging effects on the structural behavior. Moreover, the consideration of SSI and site effects may significantly alter the expected structural performance leading to higher vulnerability values.     

Damage to urban buildings in zones of intensities Ⅷ and Ⅶ during the Wenchuan earthquake and discussion on some typical damages

The outline and typical characteristics of damages to building in Jiangyou city and Anxian county (intensity Ⅷ), Mianyang city and Deyang city (intensity Ⅶ) are introduced in the paper. The damage ratios, based on the sample statistics of multi-story brick buildings together with multi-story brick buildings with RC frame at first story (BBF), are presented. Then some typical damages, such as horizontal cricks of brick masonry buildings, Ⅹ-shaped cricks on the walls under windows, the damages to columns, beams and infill walls of frame buildings and the damage to half circle-shaped masonry walls, are discussed.     

Seismic damage to structures in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>s</Subscript>6.5 Ludian earthquake

On 3 August 2014, the Ludian earthquake struck northwest Yunnan Province with a surface wave magnitude of 6.5. This moderate earthquake unexpectedly caused high fatalities and great economic loss. Four strong motion stations were located in the areas with intensity V, VI, VII and IX, near the epicentre. The characteristics of the ground motion are discussed herein, including 1) ground motion was strong at a period of less than 1.4 s, which covered the natural vibration period of a large number of structures; and 2) the release energy was concentrated geographically. Based on materials collected during emergency building inspections, the damage patterns of adobe, masonry, timber frame and reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures in areas with different intensities are summarised. Earthquake damage matrices of local buildings are also given for fragility evaluation and earthquake damage prediction. It is found that the collapse ratios of RC frame and confined masonry structures based on the new design code are significantly lower than non-seismic buildings. However, the RC frame structures still failed to achieve the ‘strong column, weak beam’ design target. Traditional timber frame structures with a light infill wall showed good aseismic performance.     

Performance of masonry buildings during the Emilia 2012 earthquake

The earthquake sequence started on May \(20\) th 2012 in Emilia (Italy) affected a region where masonry constructions represent a large part of the existing building stock and the construction of new modern masonry buildings is a common practice. The paper is focused on the performance of common architectural configurations, typical for residential or business use. The large majority of old masonry buildings is made of fired clay bricks. The seismic performance of these buildings is particularly interesting since major past earthquakes in Italy affected areas with mainly stone masonry structures. Apart from examples showing systematic or peculiar structural deficiencies governing the vulnerability of several buildings, the overall seismic performance of these structures to repeated shaking, with PGA as large as 0.25–0.3 g was rather good, despite the major part of them were only conceived for carrying vertical loads. In fact, seismic design is mandatory in the area only since 2003. Modern low-rise masonry buildings erected after this date and incorporating seismic design and proper detailing resulted in most cases practically undamaged. The examples reported in the paper allow an evaluation of the superior performance of seismically designed modern masonry buildings in comparison to older ones.     

Field investigation on severely damaged aseismic buildings in 2014 Ludian earthquake

The 2014 magnitude 6.5 Ludian earthquake caused a death toll of 617, many landslides and tens of thousands of collapsed buildings. A field investigation to evaluate the damage to buildings was carried out immediately after the occurrence of the earthquake. Severely damaged aseismic buildings, which were basically observed in the downtown of Longtoushan Town, were carefully examined one by one with the aim to improve design codes. This paper summarizes the damage observed to the investigated aseismic buildings in both the structural and local levels. A common failure mode was observed that most of the aseismic buildings, such as RC frame structures and confined masonry structures, were similarly destroyed by severe damage or complete collapse of the first story. The related strong ground motion, which was recorded at the nearby station, had a short duration of less than 20 s but a very large PGA up to 1.0 g. The RC frames based on the new design codes still failed to achieve the design target for "strong column, weak beam". Typical local failure details, which were related to the interaction between RC columns and infill walls and between constructional columns and masonry walls, are summarized with preliminary analyses.     

Observations and implications of damage from the magnitude Mw 6.3 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake of 22 February 2011

This paper describes the observations made by a reconnaissance team following the 22nd February 2011, M_w 6.3, Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake (GNS Science, 2011). The team comprised of members of the UK based Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team who spent 5 days collecting observations on damage resulting from the earthquake. Although the magnitude of this earthquake was not particularly high (M_w 6.3), the shallow focus and close proximity resulted in locally very high ground motions, widespread damage and 182 fatalities. The earthquake is also particularly notable for the widespread liquefaction it caused, landslides and rockfalls in the hills south of Christchurch, and the significant damage suffered by unreinforced masonry and historic structures. Over wide areas of central Christchurch, recorded accelerations were in excess of those required by the current New Zealand seismic loadings standard (NZS1170.5:2004: Standards New Zealand 2004) and therefore the earthquake presented a valuable opportunity to assess performance of modern buildings under code-level ground acceleration.     

新疆塔什库尔干5.5级地震建筑结构震害

2017年5月11日新疆塔什库尔干5.5级地震给震区建筑结构造成了不同程度破坏。选择震区钢筋混凝土（RC）框架结构、砖混结构以及土石木结构等3类典型建筑结构,介绍了各类建筑结构地震破坏特点,分析了震害特征与破坏机理。结果表明:RC框架结构在地震中表现出了优异的抗震性能,即使在震中区,破坏也仅仅表现为非结构性破坏,如填充墙开裂和吊顶脱落等;砖混结构绝大多数抗震性能优良,仅震中区的少数建筑物发生了承重墙墙体开裂情况;土石木结构房屋抗震性能最差,地震破坏最为严重,是导致该次地震人员伤亡主要原因。建议地震高烈度设防区房屋建筑应采用抗震性能较好的RC框架结构和砖混结构,而抗震性能差的土石木建筑房屋应尽量避免继续建设和使用。结果可供类似地区房屋建设和建筑结构抗震设计等工作参考。     

江苏高邮、宝应MS4.9级地震现场震害调查与破坏原因研究

江苏高邮、宝应Ms4．9级地震在极震区造成了数10间农村民居不同程度和不同方式的破坏,出现人员伤亡。震后对地震灾害现场进行震害调查与破坏原因研究,典型的震害特征包括砖砌体、砖木和砖混结构房屋局部倾倒、墙体贯通开裂、房顶瓦片掀翻和烟囱倒塌等。农村民居遭到破坏的主要因素包括：选址不当、施工质量较差、砂浆强度不够、缺少圈梁和构造柱等。同时,分析了竖向地震作用和鞭梢效应等地震效应,讨论了砖砌体和砖混结构抗震设计的加固方法和改善抗震性能的构造措施等,为农村民居的抗震设防和减轻震害损失等提供参考。     

Analytical investigation of the observed damage in an RC building after March 08, 2010 Kovancilar-Turkey earthquake

Although the M _w  = 6.1 Kovancilar-Turkey earthquake of March 8, 2010 had a moderate intensity with a recorded PGA of 0.07g, it caused heavy damages in 2870 residential buildings having traditional or masonry structural systems and 42 human loss. Damage has been reported to be particularly concentrated at Kovancilar and Palu counties of Elazig province. Five hours after this earthquake, an aftershock of M _L  = 5.6 with a PGA of 0.08g struck the same region, developing the existing damages in the structures. In order to investigate this significant amount of reported damages under the effect of such low ground shakings, our reconnaissance team arrived at the region and unexpectedly came across a two-story RC building settled on a slope in Yukari Demirci village, which suffered moderate damage during the shakes. The outline of this paper can be summarized as the presentation of the results of the investigations in the order of describing the overall observed damages within the region; evaluation of the recorded motions; the details of the field-work carried out for the two story RC building and the analytical estimation of the site-assessed damages by means of nonlinear dynamic analysis. Employing the gathered data, the building is analytically modeled as plane frames and analyses are performed under the effects of the processed earthquake records, which are applied to the structure one after another in the consistent directions due to the building location. It is shown herein that the structural elements remain in the elastic range subjected to the processed recorded motions; henceforth acceleration time histories are scaled step by step up to 0.40g and computations are repeated for each acceleration level. Comparison with the observed and the analytically obtained damages confirmed that approximately 0.30g of peak ground acceleration should have to be exposed during the earthquakes.     

芦山MS7.0地震建筑结构震害特征

基于2013年4月20日四川芦山M_S7.0地震灾区的房屋建筑震害调查资料, 初步分析了这次地震中建筑结构的震害特征. 结合典型建筑结构震害案例, 从抗震概念设计和抗震构造措施的角度对震害机理进行了探讨, 总结了结构抗震设计方面的经验和教训并给出了相关的建议. 分析表明, 农村自建的砖木和土木结构房屋的抗震能力普遍较差; 砖混结构和砌体-框架混合结构的抗震性能需要严格的抗震构造措施给予保证, 包括合理设置钢筋混凝土构造柱和圈梁, 合理设置承重墙的数量以及承重墙上开洞的数量和位置; 由于鞭梢效应造成的突出屋顶的楼梯间和加层的破坏需引起重视.      

Rapid report of seismic damage to buildings in the 2022 M 6.8 Luding earthquake,China

The report summarizes the observed damage to a variety of buildings near the epicenter of the M6.8 Luding earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. They include base-isolated buildings, multi-story reinforced concrete (RC) frame buildings, and masonry buildings. The near-field region is known to be tectonically highly active, and the local intensity level is the highest, that is, 0.4g peak ground acceleration (PGA) for the design basis earthquake, in the Chinese zonation of seismic ground motion parameters. The extent of damage ranged from the weak-story collapse that claimed lives to the extensive nonstructural damage that suspended occupancy. The report highlights the first observation of the destruction of rubber bearings and viscous dampers in the isolation layer of Chinese seismically isolated buildings. It also features the rare observation of the brittle shear failure of RC columns in moment-resisting frames in a region of such a high seismic design requirement. Possible reasons that may have attributed to the reported damage are suggested by providing facts observed in the field. However, careful forensic analyses are needed before any conclusive judgment can be made.     

Fragility curves for risk-targeted seismic design maps

Seismic design using maps based on “risk-targeting” would lead to an annual probability of attaining or exceeding a certain damage state that is uniform over an entire territory. These maps are based on convolving seismic hazard curves from a standard probabilistic analysis with the derivative of fragility curves expressing the chance for a code-designed structure to attain or exceed a certain damage state given a level of input motion, e.g. peak ground acceleration (PGA). There are few published fragility curves for structures respecting the Eurocodes (ECs, principally EC8 for seismic design) that can be used for the development of risk-targeted design maps for Europe. In this article a set of fragility curves for a regular three-storey reinforced-concrete building designed using EC2 and EC8 for medium ductility and increasing levels of design acceleration \((\hbox {a}_\mathrm{g})\) is developed. These curves show that structures designed using EC8 against PGAs up to about 1 m/s \(^{2}\) have similar fragilities to those that respect only EC2 (although this conclusion may not hold for irregular buildings, other geometries or materials). From these curves, the probability of yielding for a structure subjected to a PGA equal to \(\hbox {a}_\mathrm{g}\) varies between 0.14 ( \(\hbox {a}_\mathrm{g}=0.7\) m/s \(^{2})\) and 0.85 ( \(\hbox {a}_\mathrm{g}=3\) m/s \(^{2})\) whereas the probability of collapse for a structure subjected to a PGA equal to \(\hbox {a}_\mathrm{g}\) varies between 1.7 \(\times 10^{-7}\) ( \(\hbox {a}_\mathrm{g}=0.7\) m/s \(^{2})\) and 1.0 \(\times 10^{-5}\) ( \(\hbox {a}_\mathrm{g}=3\) m/s \(^{2})\) .     

云南漾濞6.4级地震公共建筑的震害特征

2021年5月21日云南漾濞发生6.4级地震,成为继2014年6.5级鲁甸地震和6.6级景谷地震之后云南省内时隔7年的又一次震级大于6级的破坏性地震。漾濞地震虽然与鲁甸地震在震级、震源深度和震源机制等方面均较相似,但漾濞地震震中附近的地面运动强度远不及鲁甸地震,且漾濞县的抗震设防烈度远高于鲁甸;相应地,漾濞地震对抗震设防建筑造成的破坏也远轻于后者。本文首先通过比较这三次地震震中附近的强震记录的反应谱,并结合公共建筑的震后应急评估结果,说明漾濞地震和鲁甸地震中公共建筑破坏程度的显著差异。进而以位于漾濞县城的两栋钢筋混凝土公共建筑为例,介绍此次地震中砌体填充墙和吊顶等典型非结构构件的震害。     

An Evaluation of Earthquake Hazard Potential for Different Regions in Western Anatolia Using the Historical and Instrumental Earthquake Data

We applied the maximum likelihood method produced by Kijko and Sellevoll (Bull Seismol Soc Am 79:645–654, 1989; Bull Seismol Soc Am 82:120–134, 1992) to study the spatial distributions of seismicity and earthquake hazard parameters for the different regions in western Anatolia (WA). Since the historical earthquake data are very important for examining regional earthquake hazard parameters, a procedure that allows the use of either historical or instrumental data, or even a combination of the two has been applied in this study. By using this method, we estimated the earthquake hazard parameters, which include the maximum regional magnitude $ \hat{M}_{\max } , $ the activity rate of seismic events and the well-known $ \hat{b} $ value, which is the slope of the frequency-magnitude Gutenberg-Richter relationship. The whole examined area is divided into 15 different seismic regions based on their tectonic and seismotectonic regimes. The probabilities, return periods of earthquakes with a magnitude M?≥?m and the relative earthquake hazard level (defined as the index K) are also evaluated for each seismic region. Each of the computed earthquake hazard parameters is mapped on the different seismic regions to represent regional variation of these parameters. Furthermore, the investigated regions are classified into different seismic hazard level groups considering the K index. According to these maps and the classification of seismic hazard, the most seismically active regions in WA are 1, 8, 10 and 12 related to the Alia?a Fault and the Büyük Menderes Graben, Aegean Arc and Aegean Islands.     

A fuzzy–random analysis model for seismic performance of framed structures incorporating structural and non‐structural damage

Past earthquake experiences indicate that most buildings designed in accordance with modern seismic design codes could survive moderate‐to‐strong earthquakes; however, the financial loss due to repairing cost and the subsequent business interruption can be unacceptable. Designing building structures to meet desired performance targets has become a clear direction in future seismic design practice. As a matter of fact, the performance of buildings is affected by structural as well as non‐structural components, and involves numerous uncertainties. Therefore, appropriate probabilistic approach taking into account structural and non‐structural damages is required. This paper presents a fuzzy–random model for the performance reliability analysis of RC framed structures considering both structural and non‐structural damages. The limit state for each performance level is defined as an interval of inter‐storey drift ratios concerning, respectively, the non‐structural and structural damage with a membership function, while the relative importance of the two aspects is reflected through the use of an appropriate cost function. To illustrate the methodology, herein the non‐structural damage is represented by infill masonry walls. The probabilistic drift limits for RC components and masonry walls from the associated studies are employed to facilitate the demonstration of the proposed model in an example case study. The results are compared with those obtained using classical reliability model based on single‐threshold performance definition. The proposed model provides a good basis for incorporating different aspects into the performance assessment of a building system. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.