Document Type : Article
Authors
1
Building & Housing Faculty
2
Faculty of Engineering & Technology\r\nKharazmi U
Abstract
Earthquakes are an important hazard for masonry buildings and historical constructions. Recent earthquakes have shown a deficient performance of masonry buildings under seismic loading. In relevance to the importance of this topic, different methods have been presented for the seismic vulnerability assessment of masonry constructions, like linear and nonlinear finite element methods, including limit analysis etc. Limit analysis is a good technique for estimating the ultimate limit state of the structure, because of the simplification of assumption, reducing the number of necessary mechanical properties and giving the ultimate condition of the structure in a critical section. On the other hand, in existing masonry buildings, partial collapses (local failure mechanisms) generally occur; very often due to the loss of equilibrium in masonry portions in earthquakes. Verifications of collapse (in-plane and out of- plane), with reference to those local failure mechanisms, can be done by means of the limit equilibrium analysis, based on the kinematics approach, which depends on selection of the failure mechanism and evaluation of the horizontal forces that generate that kinematic mechanism. Therefore, for application of kinematic limit analysis, it is necessary to identify the different collapse mechanisms. The determination of an abacus of failure mechanism is an important issue, as a good interpretation of the vulnerability of the building, which directly relates to the identification of failure mechanisms. The basis of this method is to find the safety factor of each failure mechanism, due to the kinematical stability imposed on the lateral load. For these reasons, evaluating the ultimate load bearing capacity of an entire masonry building subjected to horizontal loads is a fundamental task for the design of masonry buildings in some codes, for instance, the recent Italian Ordinance PCM 3274 & modifications OPCM 3431 of 3/05/05, which pays due attention to the kinematic limit analysis. This verification can be developed through a simplified verification, with behavior factor q (linear kinematic analysis) and the capacity spectrum (non-linear kinematic analysis). In the capacity spectrum (non-linear kinematic analysis) method, based on appendix 11.c of the Italian rdinance, the safety verifications for local failure mechanisms in the ultimate limit state, consist of a comparison of the ultimate displacement capacity of each local failure mechanism with the displacement demand evaluated by means of a response spectrum, defined similarly to that adopted for the assessment of non-structural elements, estimated in respect to the secant period (Ts). This paper presents an application of the Capacity Spectrum Kinematic Limit Analysis (nonlinear) to assess typical masonry buildings. The safety of the building against 21 failure mechanisms, due to in-plane and out-of-plane behavior, and also, the overturning of parapets in an earthquake with 10% probability of occurrence over 50 years, has been studied. The vulnerability of the structure was assessed, in compliance with the Limit Analysis Method presented in the O.P.C.M 3431 Italian code. At the end, the results of the assessment based on the Italian code has been compared with the results of the same calculation based on the Iranian code.
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