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.
Recently, Zagreb was struck by a strong earthquake. Damage throughout the city was tremendous due to numerous aged and vulnerable masonry buildings. Many damaged buildings are under a certain level of cultural heritage protection. Hence, reliable assessment and effective rehabilitation are important to preserve cultural significance and mitigate risk for human life. With that in mind, the procedure of a detailed condition assessment of the building under heritage protection is presented. A detailed historical background of the case study building is shown, and observed damage and conducted in situ tests are discussed. The nonlinear static seismic analysis performed in the 3Muri software is extensively elaborated. Four different levels of reconstruction according to new Croatian law are briefly presented. Additionally, several strengthening scenarios are proposed with various strengthening techniques.
According to the systematic research of Statistical Yearbooks, Croatia's national building stock consists of approx. residential 800000 buildings and 125000 non-residential buildings. More than 75 % of the building stock is older than 30 years, an age which often requires renovation or modification of buildings. More than 40 % of the building stock is older than 50 years, meaning that the structure's service life is expired. In Croatia's building sector, up to 40 % of the expenses are spent for the rehabilitation, modification, and demolition of existing structures.
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