Vibration-Based Tests and Results for the Evaluation of Infill Masonry Walls Influence on the Dynamic Behaviour of Buildings: A Review

Abstract

Tests on infill masonry walls have been widely performed by many researchers and for a long time with the main purpose of characterising the infill performance under earthquake-type excitations. However, most of these works deal with laboratory tests on purpose-built specimens. More recently, vibration-based tests have been also adopted to investigate the influence of the non-structural elements on the dynamic behaviour of buildings, with the advantage that this kind of tests can be performed both on laboratory specimens and on in-situ buildings. However, differently from classical infill tests (i.e., monotonic or cyclic lateral load tests, out of plane tests, etc.), a limited number of works is available in the literature discussing the outcomes and possible procedures for testing infilled structures with vibration-based methods aimed to investigate the role of the non-structural components. This paper presents a literature review of research works dealing with vibration-based tests performed on RC frame structures with the main target of discussing the influence of non-structural components on the dynamics of buildings. Tests on infilled buildings performed during the construction, in operating conditions and after the damage occurred due to earthquake shakings, are discussed. Furthermore, a comprehensive review about papers discussing vibration-based tests performed on infill masonry walls is presented and in-depth investigated with the aim of finding possible correlations between the dynamic test outcomes and the infill geometric and mechanical properties. From this study it comes out the need of further experimental data on both undamaged and damaged infills in order to get more reliable correlations.

Diagnóstico de estructuras basado en vibraciones a partir de una red local de acelerógrafos

“…En ASCE 41-13 [9] se define el término partición como aquel componente vertical que no soporta carga y que provee división de espacios. Al respecto, en nuestro medio existe la concepción de ignorar las particiones en la etapa de diseño; lo cual es conservador y simplifica los procedimientos de cálculo [10]. En este sentido, especialmente cuando se trata de particiones pesadas, se requieren detalles en los planos que garanticen la estabilidad de esta y que no contribuya a la rigidez lateral de la estructura ni a resistir fuerzas; debido que estos elementos tienen la capacidad de inducir acciones no consideradas en el diseño, como lo es la torsión adicional [11].…”

Empirical Equations for Modelling Yarn–Mortar Debonding in TRM-Strengthened Masonry Walls Subjected to Out-of-Plane Loading

“…[25][26][27][28]): (i) based only on the fracture of TRM for the out-of-plane bending [20], or (ii) taking into account also masonry crushing (e.g., Refs. [25,27,29]). An assessment of the structural performance is undertaken, usually along with a damage assessment applying non-destructive techniques such as ambient vibration testing [29][30][31][32][33].…”

“…[25,27,29]). An assessment of the structural performance is undertaken, usually along with a damage assessment applying non-destructive techniques such as ambient vibration testing [29][30][31][32][33].…”

Detection of infill wall damage due to earthquakes from vibration data

“…A comprehensive literature review about vibration-based methods for damage detection can be found in. [1][2][3] Among them, the response-based methods are the most adopted ones, even if they present some challenges in real building applications [4] related to the location and the extent of damage (detection of structural and/or non-structural damaged components), the sensitivity of the dynamic response to damage, the choice of damage indexes to be used, the sensor locations, etc. However, although this strategy is widely recognised to be of useful application, a relatively low number of works can be found dealing with applications on real or scaled structures.…”

“…In framed RC and steel buildings, infills are the most important non-structural elements that may affect the structural dynamic response [3,18] and the seismic performance, [19][20][21][22][23] sometimes leading to the development of undesirable effects, such as the activation of soft storey mechanisms or the shear failure of short unconfined columns. [24,25] Thus, not only damage to structural elements but also to non-structural components often reflects in changes on the dynamic behaviour of infilled structures, as proved by some authors that investigated the dynamic response of infilled buildings after damage produced by earthquakes all around the world.…”