Seismic Vulnerability of Existing Masonry Buildings in the Balcan Area – Case North Macedonia

Abstract

A significant number of masonry buildings, built prior to existing seismic codes, nowadays are used and serve a function as public institutions, namely schools, administration offices, courts, museums, theatres, etc. The necessity for evaluation of the seismic risk of these existing buildings is of high priority. In the framework of the research project SeismoWall, sixteen representative masonry buildings were selected and studied. The investigated buildings with their architectural layout, structural system and materials are typical for the buildings built between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of twentieth century, not only in the country, but in the wider region of the Balkan Peninsula. The research activities in the project are divided in four main work packages: WP1-Selection of representative buildings and their static and seismic analysis, WP2-Experimental analysis of the mechanical properties of constituent components of the buildings and ambient vibration testing (AVT), WP3-correlation of numerical and experimental data and calibration of the dynamic characteristics of the buildings with the results from AVT and WP4-Determination of vulnerability curves for the selected masonry buildings. The main aim of the project SesimoWall is to define a series of seismic vulnerability curves for four classes of masonry buildings (unreinforced masonry with rigid/flexible floors, regular/irregular plan layout) for five geographical regions in Republic of North Macedonia with distinctive severe seismic hazard.