Seismic behaviour of confined masonry walls

The results of tests of plain and confined masonry walls with h/l ratio equal to 1·5, made at 1:5 scale, have been used to develop a rational method for modelling the seismic behaviour of confined masonry walls. A trilinear model of lateral resistance–displacement envelope curve has been proposed, where the resistance is calculated as a combination of the shear resistance of the plain masonry wall panel and dowel effect of the tie-columns’ reinforcement. Lateral stiffness, however, is modelled as a function of the initial effective stiffness and damage, occurring to the panel at characteristic limit states. Good correlation between the predicted and experimental envelopes has been obtained in the particular case studied. The method has been also verified for the case of prototype confined masonry walls with h/l ratio equal to 1·0. Good correlation between the predicted and experimental values of lateral resistance indicates the general validity of the proposed method. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic fragility assessment of low-rise stone masonry buildings

Many historic buildings in old urban centers in Eastern Canada are made of stone masonry reputed to be highly vulnerable to seismic loads.Seismic risk assessment of stone masonry buildings is therefore the first step in the risk mitigation process to provide adequate planning for retrofit and preservation of historical urban centers.This paper focuses on development of analytical displacement-based fragility curves reflecting the characteristics of existing stone masonry buildings in Eastern Canada.The old historic center of Quebec City has been selected as a typical study area.The standard fragility analysis combines the inelastic spectral displacement,a structure-dependent earthquake intensity measure,and the building damage state correlated to the induced building displacement.The proposed procedure consists of a three-step development process:(1) mechanics-based capacity model,(2) displacement-based damage model and(3) seismic demand model.The damage estimation for a uniform hazard scenario of 2% in 50 years probability of exceedance indicates that slight to moderate damage is the most probable damage experienced by these stone masonry buildings.Comparison is also made with fragility curves implicit in the seismic risk assessment tools Hazus and ELER.Hazus shows the highest probability of the occurrence of no to slight damage,whereas the highest probability of extensive and complete damage is predicted with ELER.This comparison shows the importance of the development of fragility curves specific to the generic construction characteristics in the study area and emphasizes the need for critical use of regional risk assessment tools and generated results.     

多层错层砖砌体房屋抗震分析

本文根据典型的东西和南北错层单元模型,按不同的错层高度、不同收层情况和不同理置深度的实际房屋情况,分析建立了错层房层和相应的等效规整房屋模型,采用板壳单元,用有限元方法计算了这些模型的动力特征和在地震作用下的墙肢剪应力分布,经过对比分析得到了一些错层房屋墙应力的分布规律。根据错层房屋的受力特点,文中提出了相应的加强构造措施,结构布置要求和错层房屋的抗震计算模型等具体建议。     

Seismic behaviour of timber-laced stone masonry buildings before and after interventions: shaking table tests on a two-storey masonry model

The present work focuses on the seismic behaviour of timber-laced masonry buildings with timber floors, before and after the application of intervention techniques. A two-storey building with timber ties (scale 1:2) was subjected to biaxial seismic actions. Prior to the execution of shaking table tests, the dynamic characteristics of the model were identified. The base acceleration was increased step-wise until the occurrence of significant but repairable damages. Afterwards, the masonry was strengthened by means of grouting, whereas the diaphragm action of the top floor of the building was enhanced and the model was re-tested. The tests on the timber reinforced model before strengthening show that the presence of timber ties within the masonry elements contributes to improved seismic behaviour. The performance of the model after strengthening shows that the selected intervention techniques led to a significant improvement of the seismic behaviour of the building model.     

Out-of-plane behaviour of existing stone masonry buildings: experimental evaluation

Masonry structures can be considered as the simplest type of structures concerning its assemblage but, at the same time, it is one of the most complex construction materials in terms of mechanical properties and correct behaviour assessment. In this context, the work herein presented aims at describing an experimental testing campaign recently carried out in order to characterize the out-of-plane behaviour of traditional masonry constructions. Taking advantage of the existence of a traditional two-storey masonry building abandoned after the 1998 Azores earthquake, several in-situ tests were defined and performed with the application of quasi-static cyclic loads at the building top level in the out-of-plane direction. In addition, the efficiency of retrofitting and/or strengthening techniques applied during the 1998 Azores reconstruction process was also experimentally evaluated. Finally, an overall discussion of these techniques is presented, resorting also to previous tests’ results carried out by the same authors, aiming at inferring and suggesting quantifications of strengthening techniques’ contributions for future interventions on existing buildings. For this purpose, simple analytical mechanical approaches were adopted in order to provide numerical estimates of strength that were found in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Seismic collapse simulation of existing masonry buildings with different retrofitting techniques

Masonry buildings are primarily constructed out of bricks and mortar which become discrete pieces and cannot sustain horizontal forces created by a strong earthquake.The collapse of masonry walls may cause significant human casualties and economic losses.To maintain their integrity,several methods have been developed to retrofit existing masonry buildings,such as the constructional RC frame which has been extensively used in China.In this study,a new method using precast steel reinforced concrete(PSRC)panels is developed.To demonstrate its effectiveness,numerical studies are conducted to investigate and compare the collapse behavior of a structure without retrofitting,retrofitted with a constructional RC frame,and retrofitted with external PSRC walls(PSRCW).Sophisticated finite element models(FEM)were developed and nonlinear time history analyses were carried out.The results show that the existing masonry building is severely damaged under occasional earthquakes,and totally collapsed under rare earthquakes.Both retrofitting techniques improve the seismic performance of existing masonry buildings.However,it is found that several occasional earthquakes caused collapse or partial collapse of the building retrofitted with the constructional RC frame,while the one retrofitted by the proposed PSRC wall system survives even under rare earthquakes.The effectiveness of the proposed retrofitting method on existing masonry buildings is thus fully demonstrated.     

芦山7.0级强烈地震砖混民居震害调查与分析

2013年4月20日四川省芦山县发生Ms7.0级强烈地震,造成了大量民居建筑的严重破坏甚至倒塌.本文通过对芦山地震中民居建筑的震害调查,系统总结了砖混民居这一量大面广建筑结构的破坏形式和损伤机制.汶川地震后的新建民居在抗震措施方面有较大幅度的提高,比如大多具有抗震构造措施、采用240mm承重墙等,因此整体震害较轻,但是新建居民在建设房屋时,抗震构造措施的布局有很大的随意性,具体表现在平面内布置不足和竖向分布不规则,导致整体约束效果下降,进而结构发生破坏.雅安地区多处于山坡软土地带、建筑物多临近河流,同时民居建筑的基坑开挖普遍较浅,处理不当,在地震过程中出现地基不均匀沉降,基础遭到破坏,并造成上部结构破坏.相比之下,地基得到妥善处理、严格按照抗震规范设计的民居,震害十分轻微.本文建议继续增强对居民的防震减灾宣传,普及民居抗震构造知识,进行民居的实用抗震措施和地基处理方法的研究,并针对各类民居震害情况,研究有效、经济和快速的加固改造技术.     

Seismic behaviour of asymmetric buildings with supplemental damping

This paper investigates the response of asymmetric‐plan buildings with supplemental viscous damping to harmonic ground motion using modal analysis techniques. It is shown that most modal parameters, except dynamic amplification factors (DAFs), are affected very little by the plan‐wise distribution of supplemental damping in the practical range of system parameters. Plan‐wise distribution of supplemental damping significantly influences the DAFs, which, in turn, influence the modal deformations. These trends are directly related to the apparent modal damping ratios; the first modal damping ratio increases while the second decreases as CSD moves from right to left of the system plan, and their values increase with larger plan‐wise spread of the supplemental damping. The largest reduction in the flexible edge deformation occurs when damping in the first mode is maximized by distributing the supplemental damping such that the damping eccentricity takes on the largest value with algebraic sign opposite to the structural eccentricity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic vulnerability assessment and fragility analysis of pre-code masonry buildings in Portugal

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering - Despite the fact that in recent years Portugal has not seen the occurrence of high-magnitude earthquakes, it remains threatened by these events due to its...     

Seismic fragility assessment of nonstructural components in unreinforced clay brick masonry buildings

The results of an investigation of the probability of earthquake damage to nonstructural unreinforced masonry (URM) components are presented. The components include parapets, chimneys, and out-of-plane loaded facades typical of low-rise pre-1940 construction in Australia and New Zealand. The study is based on a street survey of component geometry, in situ data on material strength, and simplified mechanical models. Uncertainties in capacity and demand were quantified based on, respectively, stochastic and deterministic approaches. The damage probabilities were compared with relevant guidelines and empirical damage data from three earthquakes. The study established a link between the qualitative damage states reported in existing guidelines and the quantitative URM component damage states. While some median damage state thresholds correlated well with the data from the guidelines, a larger dispersion value was found in the current study due to the large variations in component properties. Comparisons with empirical data suggest that the developed fragility data provide a realistic estimate of nonstructural component damage that occurred in similar buildings, with a reasonable level of conservatism. The outcome is useful in rapid assessment of the seismic risks due to nonstructural component collapse in URM precincts.     

Seismic design analysis of the country masonry school buildings in the meizoseismal area

Several reinforcing schemes are illustrated that are based on the loading characteristics of typical country masonry school buildings with sparsely spaced transversal walls and large depth. From the seismic damage observed following the Wenchuan Earthquake, the effects of reinforcing schemes, tie-columns and tie-beams on the seismic resistance of masonry buildings are analyzed. The concept of improving the ductility of these types of buildings is presented. Finally, some suggestions are proposed for the design of masonry buildings with sparsely spaced transversal walls and large depth.     

基于BP神经网络模型的多层砖房震害预测方法

针对传统的基于地震烈度的建筑物震害预测方法的不足,本文以地震动峰值加速度作为建筑物震害预测的地震动指标,结合几次大地震中多层砖房的震害实例,提出了一种基于BP神经网络模型的建筑物震害预测方法,模型的输入为反映结构抗震性能的各类物理参数,输出为给定地震动峰值加速度下建筑物破坏状态的概率。研究表明:基于BP网络模型的多层砖房的震害预测结果与震害实例的实际情况比较吻合,本文的思路和方法可推广于其他不同类型的建筑结构的震害预测。     

Shaking table study and modelling of seismic behaviour of confined AAC masonry buildings

The response of autoclaved aerated concrete confined masonry buildings to seismic ground motion has been studied. Three 1:4 scale models of residential buildings with the same distribution of walls in plan but different types of floors and number of stories have been tested on a uni-directional shaking table. Lightweight prefabricated slabs have been installed in the case of the three-storey model M1, whereas reinforced concrete slabs have been constructed in the case of three-storey model M2 and four-storey model M3. Model M1 was subjected to seismic excitation along the axis of symmetry, whereas models M2 and M3 were tested orthogonal to it. Typical storey mechanism, characterised by diagonal shear failure mode of walls in the ground floor in the direction of excitation has been observed in all cases. Taking into consideration the observed behaviour, a numerical model with concentrated masses and storey hysteretic rules has been used to simulate the observed behaviour. Storey resistance curves calculated by a push-over method and hysteretic rules, which take into account damage and energy based stiffness degradation hysteretic rules, have been used to model the non-linear behaviour of the structure. Good agreement between the experimentally observed and calculated non-linear behaviour has been obtained.     

基于BP神经网络模型的村镇砖砌体结构震害预测研究

砖砌体结构是村镇地区一种量大面广的结构形式,其抗震性能薄弱,在地震中极易出现脆性破坏。本文尝试应用基于L-M算法的BP神经网络方法,利用它强大的非线性映射功能,建立起村镇地区砖砌体结构震害影响因素与破坏状态等级之间关系。设计出一个9-6-5的三层神经网络模型,根据实地调查,筛选出影响房屋震害的9个主要因素,如层数、层高、砌筑方式、砖墙面积率等作为神经网络的输入参数,输出参数为房屋5种破坏状态。选择2008汶川地震后四川、陕西、甘肃等地的震害实例作为学习样本对所构建的神经网络模型进行训练。训练结果表明,该模型对已训练数据有很好的适应性,但如果要将其用于单个或群体建筑的易损性分析,并取得较精确的预测结果,还需积累足够多的训练样本,并进行大量的网络试验工作。     

Seismic assessment of masonry buildings accounting for limited knowledge on materials by Bayesian updating

Several building codes propose methodologies to account for epistemic uncertainties in the seismic assessment of masonry buildings by selecting a knowledge level and reducing material strengths by means of the associated value of the confidence factor. Previous works showed that, in the case of masonry structures, this approach has various limitations, such as the lack of proper consideration of experimental tests performed. This article focuses on the issue of imperfect knowledge on material properties of existing masonry buildings and proposes a probabilistic methodology for the assessment, based on Bayesian updating of mechanical properties. The use of a Bayesian approach allows to update the values of the material properties assumed a priori as knowledge on the building increases, by taking into account all the experimental information gathered during the assessment process. A large number of simulated assessments is carried out and the values of the confidence factors on material properties are defined through the comparison between the obtained results and those of the reference structure, assumed to be perfectly known. These factors are useful in a more general framework for the assessment of masonry buildings accounting for different sources of uncertainty.     

多层砌体校舍建筑低阶周期的测试与研究

采用脉动法对上海市73栋砖混结构、内框架或部分内框架结构以及砖木结构的多层砌体房屋进行了现场测试和数据采集,测得了每栋房屋的多阶自振频率。对以上实测数据中较可靠的前两阶自振频率进行分析整理,并选取典型实例用有限元法进行计算和比较。利用以上数据进行分析,得到了结构类型、砌筑材料、楼板形式、层数、层高、高度、平面几何形状、高宽比以及长宽比对建筑前两阶自振周期的影响关系,并据此选取对前两阶周期影响较大的几种因素,拟合出考虑多种因素的经验公式,随后提出了实用的简化公式并将这些公式与已有的公式进行了分析比较和实测验证,为砌体结构抗震设计和研究提供了依据。     

底部框剪-组合墙多层房屋抗震变形分析

研究了底部框剪多层砖房在地震作用下的弹塑性变形状态,研究了框剪层与相邻砌体结构层的层间侧移刚度比对层间变形的影响。     

砌体结构损伤检测的脉动法

应用脉动法测到的信号分析结构的固有频率和振型，利用作者提出的改进的单纯形法来识别结构刚度。根据识别的刚度矩阵，利用结构刚度与层间抗压抗剪强度、砂浆强度之间的关系，则可求得砌体的强度，从而达到对砌体结构进行损伤检测和安全性评定的目的。对某七层砌体结构进行实例，结果表明该方法能够比较准确地对砌体结构进行损伤检测和安全性评定。