This paper presents the results of a series of shake-table tests on a half-scale, four-storey building with reinforced concrete and unreinforced masonry walls. Due to the lack of reference tests, the seismic behaviour of such mixed structures is poorly understood. The test unit was subjected to several runs of increasing intensity yielding performance states between minor damage and near collapse. Before the test, the expected peak table accelerations leading to different limit states were estimated using the capacity spectrum method, and the predicted values corresponded rather well to actual sustained accelerations. Next to these analyses, the paper describes the test unit, instrumentation and input motion, and comments on the response of the mixed structure in terms of damage evolution and global response quantities, such as force-displacement response and drift and acceleration profiles. The raw and post-processed data sets are made publically available, and all relevant information with regard to data organisation and post-processing procedure is described in an appendix to this paper. The test serves therefore as a benchmark for the validation of numerical models of such mixed structures. The project aims at providing a foundation for the development of seismic design and assessment methods of mixed structures, which are currently not covered by structural codes, including Eurocode 8.
SUMMARYIn modern unreinforced masonry buildings with stiff RC slabs, walls of the top floor are most susceptible to out-of-plane failure. The out-of-plane response depends not only on the acceleration demand and wall geometry but also on the static and kinematic boundary conditions of the walls. This paper discusses the influence of these boundary conditions on the out-of-plane response through evaluation of shake table test results and numerical modelling. As a novum, it shows that the in-plane response of flanking elements, which are orthogonal to the wall whose out-of-plane response is studied, has a significant influence on the vertical restraint at the top of the walls. The most critical configuration exists if the flanking elements are unreinforced masonry walls that rock. In this case, the floor slabs can uplift, and the out-of-plane loadbearing walls loose the vertical restraint at the top. Numerical modelling confirms this experimentally observed behaviour and shows that slab uplift and the difference in base and top excitation have a strong influence on the out-of-plane response of the walls analysed.
Unreinforced masonry (URM) structures are known to be rather vulnerable to seismic loading. Modern URM buildings with reinforced concrete (RC) slabs might, however, have an acceptable seismic performance for regions of low to moderate seismicity. In particular in countries of moderate seismicity it is often difficult to demonstrate the seismic safety of modern URM buildings by means of force-based design methods. Displacement-based design methods are known to lead to more realistic and less conservative results, opening up hence new opportunities for the use of structural masonry. An effective implementation of displacement-based design approaches requires reliable estimates of the structure's force and displacement capacity. This paper contributes to this endeavour by taking a fresh look at the drift capacity of URM walls with hollow clay bricks and mortar joints of normal thickness. It discusses in particular the influence of the size of the test unit and the applied loading history and loading velocity on the drift capacities of URM walls.
IntroductionAlthough unreinforced masonry (URM) construction features excellent properties with regard to sustainability, durability, indoor climate and fire resistance, in most regions of moderate seismicity the total amount of structural masonry in new residential buildings has decreased over the last three decades (Magenes 2006). One reason for this decrease relates to the conservatism of force-based methods which often lead to the situation that URM buildings do not satisfy the seismic
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