Seismic Behavior of Low-Rise Urm Structures With Geometric Variation

Abstract eng:
Seismic risk assessment of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings is an important process for seismic retrofit of essential facilities located in the south and central US (CSUS) region, as more than 30% of the facilities are low-rise URM buildings. Although HAZUS provides a set of fragility curves for such structures as an essential tool for conducting the seismic risk assessment, the variation of the seismic performance level due to the geometric characteristics is not explicitly considered. This study investigates the effect of geometric variation of low-rise URM structures on the seismic fragility assessment. Utilizing the URM building inventory information within the CSUS region variables that describe the physical shape of an URM structure are identified. A simplified composite spring model developed for URM structures is then utilized to monitor the nonlinear seismic behavior. At last the seismic fragility curves corresponding to various configurations of the shape of URM structures are developed and compared. The analysis confirms that the length of the out-of-plane walls and the number of stories of URM buildings have significant effects on the seismic risk, whereas the perforation ratio does not affect much the seismic performance. It is suggested that using a single set of fragility curves is not adequate for seismic risk assessment of low-rise URM buildings unless the geometric variation is explicitly considered.

• Export as: BibTeX | MARC | MARCXML | DC | EndNote | NLM | RefWorks
• Add to your basket