The Influence of Wooden Roof Connnection on the Dynamic and Earthquake Response of Old Industrial Stone Masonry Buildings

Abstract

Unreinforced masonry made of stone and low strength mortar has been used for centuries in forming the structural system of old type buildings. Wooden roofs were also used as part of such structural systems. The influence of the connections of such wooden roofs with the vertical masonry walls is the objective of this study. A number of old stone-masonry buildings used as leather factories in the island of Samos-Greece are employed in this investigation. The wooden roofs of these buildings collapsed either partly or totally during the recent earthquake of October 2020. Initially, the dynamic behaviour typical forms of such buildings with wooden roofs are studied. A variation of the connections of such a wooden roof with the vertical stone masonry walls is studied in a parametric way. Next, the earthquake response of the same structural formations are also studied using again the variation of these connections as the main parameter. Towards this end earthquake design spectra are used as well as the acceleration recordings of this earthquake ground motion by an instrument located in the Samos island. Numerical simulation results are presented and discussed. Through the comparison of the obtained numerical predictions with the observed behaviour the validity of the numerical approach is discussed.