Masonry structures are notoriously vulnerable to horizontal actions caused by earthquakes. Given the high seismicity of the European region, and that the European building stock comprises a lot of masonry buildings, knowledge about their structural response to seismic excitation is particularly important, but at the same time difficult to determine, due to the heterogenous nature of materials and/or constructional techniques in use. An additional issue is represented by the current methods for mechanical properties assessment, that do not provide a reliable framework for accurate structural estimations of existing buildings characterized by different typological properties. Every structure, in other words, should be separately inspected in regard to its mechanical behaviour, based on dedicated approaches able to capture potential critical issues. In this review paper, an insight on the Croatian ARES project is presented (Assessment and Rehabilitation of Existing Structures), including a state-of-the-art of the actual building stock and giving evidence of major difficulties concerning the assessment of existing structures. The most commonly used techniques and tools are compared, with a focus on their basic features and field of application. A brief overview of prevailing structural behaviours and Finite Element numerical modelling issues are also mentioned. As shown, the general tendency is to ensure “sustainable” and energy-efficient building systems. The latter, however, seem in disagreement with basic principles of structural maintenance and renovation. The aim of the ongoing ARES project, in this context, is to improve the current knowledge regarding the assessment and strengthening of structures, with a focus on a more reliable design and maintenance process for existing masonry buildings.

In the wake of recent strong earthquakes in Croatia, there is a need for a detailed and more comprehensive post-earthquake damage assessment. Given that masonry structures are highly vulnerable to horizontal actions caused by earthquakes and a majority of the Croatian building stock is made of masonry, this field is particularly important for Croatia. In this paper, a complete assessment of an educational building in Zagreb Lower Town is reported. An extensive program of visual inspection and geometrical surveys has been planned and performed. Additionally, an in situ shear strength test is presented. After extensive fieldwork, collected data and results were input in 3Muri software for structural modeling. Moreover, a non-linear static (pushover) analysis was performed to individuate the possible failure mechanisms and to compare real-life damage to software results.

In addition to traditional methods of strengthening shear masonry walls, some newer materials and systems, such as fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) and textile reinforced mortars (TRM), have recently been introduced. The earthquake that occurred in Zagreb and its surroundings on 22 March 2020 has revealed the sensitivity of unreinforced masonry buildings to horizontal actions, while pointing to the need to repair damage to load-bearing and non-load-bearing walls and to strengthen walls against shear failure. Existing regulations do not cover design of structures with such systems. The paper presents modern procedures for strengthening masonry with FRP or TRM, scientific research in this area, advantages and disadvantages, and calculation of such reinforcements.

After the Zagreb earthquakes in March of 2020, around 25,000 buildings were estimated damaged, most of them being in the historic city center. This fact is not that surprising since most of the city center buildings are unreinforced masonry structures that have not been assessed in quite some time and usually no retrofitting methods were ever applied. The rapid post-disaster assessment began the same day after the first earthquake occurred. Through mostly visual assessment methods, the basic idea is to identify the safety and usability of buildings in general. This type of assessment was also conducted in one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, Matica Hrvatska. It is a building of great historical significance and cultural value, as is most of the city center. Accordingly, this building was constructed with no consideration given to seismic events and with the use of traditional materials and building techniques. In the scope of this paper, urgent actions that were taken are shown with problems and challenges that occurred. Furthermore, the decision-making process after an earthquake is elaborated. In addition, a numerical model is developed in 3Muri software for structural modeling. A non-linear static pushover analysis is performed, and possible failure mechanisms are examined. Furthermore, real-life damage is compared to the software results, and a conclusion process of the building’s usability is explained. In the end, the results obtained are analyzed and conclusions regarding the efficiency of the used software are drawn.

The amount of energy dissipated during an earthquake depends on the type of failure of the concrete element. Shear failure should be avoided because less energy is spent than that due to bending failure. Compression controlled failure is usually avoided by increasing the thickness of a wall. Considering that the current code largely decreases this strength, this becomes hard to achieve in practice. Because of that, the analysis described in this paper is made to determine the reason for a large strength reduction at high curvatures. Mechanisms contributing to compression controlled shear strength are analysed. Using Rankine’s strength theorem, section equilibrium, arch mechanism and bending moment-curvature diagrams, the influence of different parameters are observed and charted. The findings are compared to the existing procedures and a new, simple and safe analytical equation is derived. Compression controlled shear strength is mainly influenced by axial force, followed by the amount of longitudinal reinforcement and the achieved confinement. Results show that the value of strength reduces significantly with the increase of ductility and that some reduction exists even for lower levels of curvature. Current code provisions may lead to unsafe design, so designers should be careful when dealing with potentially critical walls.