The population size (PS) sensitivity on the spread rate of COVID-19 is assessed. • Likewise, the ambient temperature (AT) sensibility is estimated. • The transmission rate of the COVID-19 has a low sensibility to the variations of AT. • The transmission rate of the COVID-19 has a high sensitivity to the variations of PS. • The PS of over 1.7 million can enhance the transmission rate of the COVID-19 disease.

Reinforced concrete (RC) beam-column connections especially those without transverse reinforcement in joint region can exhibit brittle behavior when intensive damage is concentrated in the joint region during an earthquake event. Brittle behavior in the joint region can compromise the ductile design philosophy and the expected overall performance of structure when subjected to seismic loading. Considering the importance of joint shear failure influences on strength, ductility and stability of RC moment resisting frames, a finite element modeling which focuses on joint shear behavior is presented in this article. Nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) of RC beam-column connections is performed in order to investigate the joint shear failure mode in terms of joint shear capacity, deformations and cracking pattern. A 3D finite element model capable of appropriately modeling the concrete stress-strain behavior, tensile cracking and compressive damage of concrete and indirect modeling of steel-concrete bond is used. In order to define nonlinear behavior of concrete material, the concrete damage plasticity is applied to the numerical model as a distributed plasticity over the whole geometry. Finite element model is then verified against experimental results of two non-ductile beam-column connections (one exterior and one interior) which are vulnerable to joint shear failure. The comparison between experimental and numerical results indicates that the FE model is able to simulate the performance of the beam-column connections and is able to capture the joint shear failure in RC beam-column connections.

A considerable number of numerical and experimental studies, carried out to-date to investigate the behaviour of masonry walls under seismic loading, have considered the inplane or the out-of-plane response of the wall separately without due consideration for any possible interaction between the two responses. In this paper, the results of a series of tests with different levels of simultaneous in-plane shear and out-of-plane bending actions on small brick walls are presented. The tests results indicate noticeable interaction between the in-plane shear and out-of-plane bending strengths of brick walls. Test results are also used to validate representing numerical models of wall panels. The combined in-plane/out-of-plane capacity interaction in full-scale walls having different aspect ratios is then investigated using these numerical models. It is found that the wall aspect ratio highly influences the interaction level, which must be considered in masonry design.

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