Parametric Analysis on Local Mechanisms of Masonry Churches in Teramo (Italy)

Abstract

Local collapse mechanisms related to the out-of-plane response of walls are commonly observed in existing masonry buildings subjected to earthquakes. In such structures, the lack of proper connections among orthogonal walls and between walls and floors does not allow a global box-type behaviour of the building to develop, which would be governed by the in-plane response of walls. In this paper, parametric linear kinematic analyses on the main local mechanisms of masonry churches were performed with the aim to evaluate the corresponding horizontal load multipliers. This study was conducted on 12 masonry churches, located in Teramo (Italy) and affected by the 2016 Central Italy earthquake, whose main out-of-plane collapse mechanisms, namely facade overturning, vertical bending, corner overturning and roof gable wall overturning, have been analysed. For each mechanism, parametric analysis was carried out on varying heights and thicknesses of walls. Firstly, the acceleration values activating the considered mechanisms were calculated in order to conduct checks prescribed by the current Italian standard. Subsequently, on the basis of the obtained results, simple analytical procedures to determine load collapse multiplier for each mechanism were drawn. Finally, ranges of suitable values of both the thickness and height of walls were found in order to always satisfy seismic checks.