The paper describes a novel Adriseismic method for expeditious assessment of seismic risk associated with unreinforced masonry buildings. The methodology was developed for the Adriseismic project of the Interreg ADRION programme, with the aim to deve...
Selection of the optimal intensity measure is an important contribution to reducing the numerous uncertainties in seismic inputs within the context of performance-based earthquake engineering, especially for unreinforced masonry buildings that exhibi...
The paper presents a study on the existing low-rise unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings constructed in the period from 1945 to 1980 in Serbia and neighbouring countries in the Balkans. Buildings of this typology experienced damage in a few earthquak...
Most of the Italian historical centers are composed of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings arranged in aggregate configurations. Past and recent seismic events have underlined the high vulnerability of these buildings especially towards out-of-plane...
Masonry buildings are generally vulnerable to seismic action, as evidenced extensively in past earthquakes. In order to improve their seismic performance, several modifications have been introduced, such as reinforcing or confining the masonry. This...
There is a significant building stock of post-WWII low- and mid-rise unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings in Serbia and the region (former Yugoslavia). Numerous buildings of this typology collapsed due to the devastating 1963 Skopje, Yugoslavia earth...
Unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings in historic urban areas of European countries are generally clustered in an aggregate configuration and are often characterized by façade walls mutually interconnected with adjacent ones. As a result, the s...
Though flexible diaphragms play a role in the seismic behaviour of unreinforced masonry buildings, the effect of the connections between floors and walls is rarely discussed or explicitly modelled when simulating the response of such buildings. These...
Two-thirds of the Italian building stock was already built by the 1970s, largely according to gravity load design and using economical materials and poor workmanship. Currently, the structures, fixtures, and fittings of these buildings have reached t...
The city of Zagreb, the national capital and economic hub of Croatia, is situated in a seismically active region and hosts a significant array of historical buildings, from the medieval to Austro-Hungarian periods. These buildings possess varying but...
The complex nonlinear behaviour of unreinforced masonry (URM), along with the interaction between structural elements, still represents a challenge for the seismic assessment of existing URM buildings. A large variety of mathematical tools have been...
This research performs a parametric study based on Equivalent Single Degree of Freedom (ESDOF) models for simplified seismic analysis of unreinforced masonry (URM) structures. This is a necessary action due to the fact that it is not affordable to mo...
The primary focus of this study is to evaluate the nonlinear response of reinforced concrete (RC) frames with two types of brick infills viz., unreinforced brick masonry infill (URM) and semi-interlocked brick masonry infill (SIM) together with linte...
Seismic risk assessment has become a crucial issue for optimal management of economic resources allocated to mitigation. For this purpose, in the last decades, several research activities were aimed to update hazard, exposure, and vulnerability model...
More than the 60% of the Italian residential building stock had already been built by 1974, when seismic codes were enforced on a minimal part of the country. Unreinforced masonry buildings represent most of that share, but they are typical for each...
The paper presents a comparison between two numerical modelling approaches employed to investigate the seismic behavior of unreinforced masonry buildings with flexible diaphragms. The comparison is performed analyzing a two-story prototype tested on...
The European building stock is an aging infrastructure, mainly built prior to building codes. Furthermore, 65% of these buildings are located in seismic regions, which need to be both energetic and seismically retrofitted to comply with performance t...
Historical structures represent a significant percentage of existing constructions in numerous seismic-prone regions, and some of these are iconic monuments of their countries [...]
Unreinforced masonry buildings are highly vulnerable to earthquake damage due to their limited ability to withstand lateral loads, compared to other structures. Therefore, a detailed assessment of the seismic response and resultant damage associated...
The material deterioration of an unreinforced stone masonry (URSM) building, due to subsequent dynamic loadings of increasing intensity on a shaking table, is investigated by means of inverse engineering, i.e. calibrating a finite element (FE) model...
This paper presents a case study of an unreinforced masonry building in central Zagreb, which sustained moderate damage during the 2020 earthquakes. Situated within the Lenuci Horseshoe—a planned urban and landscaped space integral to Zagreb&rs...
This paper presents an innovative methodology to assess the economic and environmental impact of integrated interventions, namely solutions that improve both structural and energy performance of existing masonry buildings, preventing out-of-plane mod...
Performance-based design plays a significant role in the structural and earthquake engineering community to ensure both safety and economic feasibility. Its application to masonry building design/assessment is limited and requires straightforward rul...
The city of L’Aquila (Italy) includes a significant amount of masonry palaces erected from the middle of the 13th century up to the first half of the 20th century. This paper focuses on the seismic response of a masonry palace built during the...
This paper presents, firstly, an overview of the nonlinear static procedures (NSPs) given in different codes and research studies available in the literature, followed by the results achieved by the authors to evaluate the reliability of the safety l...
The in-plane seismic performance of old unreinforced brick masonry walls strengthened with stainless-steel twisted bars and conventional steel bars (usually used in concrete reinforcing) was investigated in the present study. For this purpose, a tota...
The majority of historical buildings and structures in Oman were built using unreinforced stone masonry. These structures have deteriorated due to ageing of materials, environmental degradation, and lack of maintenance. This research investigates the...
Most historical buildings and structures in Oman were built using unreinforced stone masonry. These structures have deteriorated due to the aging of materials, environmental degradation, and lack of maintenance. This research investigates the physica...
A significant number of old unreinforced load-bearing masonry (URM) buildings exist in many countries worldwide, but especially in Europe. In particular, Bosnia and Herzegovina has an important stock of masonry buildings constructed from the 1920s un...
One way to improve a structure’s total load-bearing capacity during an earthquake is to apply fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) to unreinforced walls. The study discusses the use of FRP to strengthen unreinforced masonry (URM) structures. Although, man...
Unreinforced load-bearing masonry (URM) buildings represent a significant portion of the non-engineered old buildings in many developing countries aiming to reduce the construction cost. The walls of those buildings are developed to resist gravity lo...
Masonry is among the most widely used construction materials around the world. Contemporary masonry buildings are primarily designed to comply with prescriptive building code regulations. In recent decades, performance-based design (PBD) has gained i...
The present study aims to determine the Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) basic scores for four representative Unreinforced Masonry (URM) and their corresponding Confined Masonry (CM) buildings. Two types of analysis were carried out on the finite element...
The present paper deals with the retrofitting of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, subjected to in-plane shear and out of-plane loading when struck by an earthquake. After an introductive comparison between some of the latest punctual and continu...
This research presents a comprehensive nonlinear quasi-static seismic assessment of an unreinforced rubble masonry building, Bytown Museum in Ottawa, Canada, using discontinuum-based analyses. In the proposed modeling approach, non-uniform geometrica...
Unreinforced masonry-infilled reinforced concrete frames are a prevalent taxonomy class not only in the Mediterranean region but also in Europe and worldwide, where buildings of this type abound or are ubiquitous. Thus, somewhat expectedly, various e...
Given that a significant fraction of buildings and architectural heritage in Europe’s historical centers are masonry structures, the selection of proper diagnosis, technological surveys, non-destructive testing, and interpretations of crack and...
Following the 2016 central Italy earthquakes, the high seismic vulnerability of existing buildings is once again at the center of the debate. Indeed, the majority of the Italian building stock (around 60%) was built before adopting the first seismic...
This paper presents a safety tool to assess the risk of road blockage during and after emergency situations, mainly due to earthquakes. This method can be used by public authorities to calculate the risk of road paths prone to blockage in case of sei...
URM (Unreinforced Masonry) historic buildings can be generally arranged into three categories: adobe, brick and stone masonry. However, a common feature of URM structures is typically the low mechanical properties of the masonry material, especially...
Seismic assessment of masonry structures is plagued by both inherent randomness and model uncertainty. The former is referred to as aleatory uncertainty, the latter as epistemic uncertainty because it depends on the knowledge level. Pioneering studie...
This study develops empirical fragility curves for concrete and masonry buildings in Haiti, utilizing data from the 2021 earthquake. A dataset of 3527 buildings from the StEER database, encompassing a diverse range of building types, is used. These b...
This paper adopts the use of steel frames around existing openings as a low-impact seismic retrofitting strategy for unreinforced masonry structures (URM). Although elastic steel frames have been commonly adopted for strengthening masonry walls in ca...
The assessment of seismic performance of existing masonry structures is a key aspect for the risk mitigation strategies of existing buildings and preservation of historical heritage. The increasing availability of modelling approaches for the assessm...
The preservation and definition of the correct retrofitting interventions of historic masonry buildings represents a relevant topic nowadays, especially in a country characterized by high seismicity zones. Considering the Italian Cultural Heritage, m...
Old structures that are made of adobe or brick walls are usually unreinforced and not designed for lateral forces. In-plane loads applied to unreinforced masonry walls (URM) are the usual cause of damage and failure of old buildings. In this research...
Unreinforced masonry has been for centuries one of the most widespread constructive techniques for both massive structures and civil buildings (e.g., palaces, hospitals, houses), for the most still standing nowadays. Their future conservation relies...
On 29 December 2020, a devastating Mw6.4 earthquake struck near the town of Petrinja, Croatia. The main earthquake was preceded by a Mw4.9 foreshock the day before. The earthquakes caused extensive damage to buildings, especially historic buildings m...
Low-rise residential and public masonry structures constitute a large portion of the building patrimony, yet they were erected during the massive reconstruction of Southeast Europe after World War II before any design rules existed in the engineering...
From 1940 to the present, Turkish seismic standards for masonry building have gradually evolved, culminating in the performance-based TBEC (2018). Unregulated tenant expansions and informal construction, especially in rural areas, continue to be a si...
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