An insight into The Masonry Quality Index (MQI) method for the visual assessment of existing masonry structures

Abstract

A vast majority of buildings built in Croatia are masonry buildings. A fair amount of these buildings was built before the development of seismic codes. Also, most of the structures that are considered to have great historical and cultural value are in fact built in masonry. If all the above is taken into account with the Zagreb earthquake being just the most recent reminder of the seismic fragility of these types of structures, it is safe to say that the assessment and rehabilitation of masonry structures should be one of the greatest priorities in the civil engineering community. When talking about the assessment process, the visual inspection of a structure is one of the first and most important phases. For the purposes of the visual assessment of masonry structures, a specific analytical method was developed in Italy called the Masonry Quality Index (MQI) method. In this paper an insight into the said method will be given. Also, the use of this method on a typical case study of a masonry building in Zagreb will be shown. Concluding remarks about the quality and usability of the method will be drawn and discussed.