The Cathedral of Ica, Peru, is one of the four prototype buildings involved in the ongoing Seismic Retrofitting Project, initiative of the Getty Conservation Institute. The complex historical building, which was heavily damaged by earthquakes in 2007 and 2009, can be divided into two substructures: an external masonry envelope and an internal timber frame built by a construction method known as quincha technique. This study makes use of the information available in literature and the results obtained from experimental campaigns performed by Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and University of Minho. Nonlinear behaviour of masonry is simulated in the numerical models by considering specified compressive and tensile softening behaviour, while isotropic homogeneous and linear behaviour is adopted for modelling timber with appropriate assumptions on the connections. A single representative bay was initially studied by performing linear elastic analysis and verifying the compliance with the various criteria specified by the applicable normative to discuss the actual failure of Ica Cathedral. Afterwards, the structural behaviour of the two substructures composing the Cathedral is evaluated independently. Finally, the interaction of these two substructures is investigated by performing structural analysis on the entire structure of Ica Cathedral. Several structural analysis techniques, including eigenvalue, nonlinear static and dynamic analyses, are performed in order to: (1) evaluate the dominant mode shapes of the structure; (2) validate the numerical models by reproducing the structural damage observed in-situ; (3) estimate the structural performance; and (4) identify the main failure mechanisms.
Historic earthen structures are a significant portion of the built heritage worldwide and are associated with intangible building techniques, wide material availability and low-cost construction. Nonetheless, dueto their low mechanical properties and, often poor connections, historic earthen structures are susceptible to early structural damage, and even collapse in areas of high seismic hazard. Inaddition, the lack of maintenance can further reduce structural performance and durability. The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI)'s Seismic Retrofitting Project (SRP) aims to research, designand test low-tech retrofitting techniques, as well as to implement maintenance programs, enhancing the performance of historicearthen buildings in seismic areas where the most advanced equipment, structural skills and materials are not easily available. Results: Accounting for recommendations from national building codes, conservation principles and local practices, the complete design, assessment and implementation of strengthening for twoprototype buildings in Peru, involved in the SRP, are discussed; the Church of Kuño Tambo and Ica Cathedral. Conclusions: Theretrofitted structures, complied with performance criteria and seismic local demands, with sufficient safety and acceptable levels of repairable damage.
City centres of Europe are often composed of unreinforced masonry structural aggregates, whose seismic response is challenging to predict. To advance the state of the art on the seismic response of these aggregates, the Adjacent Interacting Masonry Structures (AIMS) subproject from Horizon 2020 project Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructure Alliance for Europe (SERA) provides shake-table test data of a two-unit, double-leaf stone masonry aggregate subjected to two horizontal components of dynamic excitation. A blind prediction was organized with participants from academia and industry to test modelling approaches and assumptions and to learn about the extent of uncertainty in modelling for such masonry aggregates. The participants were provided with the full set of material and geometrical data, construction details and original seismic input and asked to predict prior to the test the expected seismic response in terms of damage mechanisms, base-shear forces, and roof displacements. The modelling approaches used differ significantly in the level of detail and the modelling assumptions. This paper provides an overview of the adopted modelling approaches and their subsequent predictions. It further discusses the range of assumptions made when modelling masonry walls, floors and connections, and aims at discovering how the common solutions regarding modelling masonry in general, and masonry aggregates in particular, affect the results. The results are evaluated both in terms of damage mechanisms, base shear forces, displacements and interface openings in both directions, and then compared with the experimental results. The modelling approaches featuring Discrete Element Method (DEM) led to the best predictions in terms of displacements, while a submission using rigid block limit analysis led to the best prediction in terms of damage mechanisms. Large coefficients of variation of predicted displacements and general underestimation of displacements in comparison with experimental results, except for DEM models, highlight the need for further consensus building on suitable modelling assumptions for such masonry aggregates.
The seismic behaviour of unreinforced masonry (URM) structures is generally governed by a complex interaction between the out-of-plane and in-plane responses of the walls, depending on the in-plane stiffness of floor/roof diaphragms and the efficiency of wallto-floor/roof connections. The presence of timber diaphragms, which are typically characterised by low in-plane stiffness and poor connection to the masonry walls, adds challenges to the numerical modelling and analysis, as well as to the structural assessment of URM structures under seismic actions. This work aims at investigating the applicability of refined FE modelling using macro-modelling approach and mass-proportional pushover analysis for simulating the response of URM structures with flexible diaphragms, comparing the results with experimental data obtained from incremental dynamic testing.A full-scale two-storey prototype building with timber diaphragms, which was tested in shaking table at the European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering (EUCENTRE), in Italy, was considered to perform this study. A refined finite element (FE) model was developed in DIANA software, considering the wall-to-diaphragm (WTD) connections. While the strength values of masonry were adopted according to axial and diagonal compression tests, the modulus of elasticity was calibrated after simulating in-plane cyclic shear tests of masonry piers, which were part of the same experimental program at EUCENTRE. Recommendations from international guidelines were used to derive the assumed material properties for diaphragms and wall-to-diaphragm connections. Mass-proportional pushover analysis was performed and a comparison between numerical and experimental results is presented to investigate the assumptions, advantages and limitations of the presented numerical modelling and analysis approach.
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