Seismic performance and fragility functions of confined masonry old infrastructure with handmade bricks

Abstract

In several countries, confined masonry structures with handmade bricks were built for common to essential infrastructure. These bricks were made by clay using artisanal ovens; therefore, they have mechanical properties less than seismic codes currently recommend. Many of these buildings are one to three stories and were designed following past design codes or were built without considering any design codes. There is an uncertainty of the strength or ductility for these buildings to resist a severe earthquake event. For this purpose, this study aimed to develop fragility functions as way to estimate and quantify the vulnerability of these structures. This research describes a methodology to find fragility functions based on a nonlinear model with three levels of masonry handmade bricks. Experimental test data was used to validate the proposed model during the calibration process. Incremental dynamic analyses were developed for 11 pairs of seismic records for both orthogonal directions. Fragility functions reported a high probability of collapse for demand levels from a design earthquake to maximum capable earthquake.

Comparative Seismic Behavior the Retrofit of 60year Old Hospital between CFRP Materials and Concrete Walls by Nonlinear Static Analysis

“…The present study focuses on block B of the Casimiro Ulloa Hospital at Lima Peru, since its lack of structural capacity was evidenced according to the report on structural, non-structural and functional seismic vulnerability of this Hospital [1]. The present study focuses on Block B of this facility since a structural assessment [1] evidenced the lack of structural capacity especially at the confined masonry walls made by clay artisan bricks measured also using fragility curves [2]. There are presented two types of retrofit procedures on this article in order to assess the best option for this type of old infrastructure.…”