Seismic Performance of Historical Masonry Structures Through Pushover and Nonlinear Dynamic Analyses

Earthquakes are the main cause of damage for ancient masonry buildings. In order to reduce their vulnerability with compatible and light interventions, it is necessary to have accurate models for the seismic analysis, able to simulate the nonlinear behaviour of masonry, and well defined Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) procedure, aimed to guarantee acceptable levels of risk for the use of the building, the safety of occupants and the conservation of the monument itself. Displacement-based approach is the more appropriate for this type of structures, which cracks even for low intensity earthquakes and can survive to severe ones only if they have a sufficient displacement capacity. Among the wide variety of historical masonry structures, buildings characterized by a box-type behavior are here considered, which can be modeled through the equivalent frame model, considering the assembling of nonlinear piers and spandrels. Thus, the main object of the paper is to establish a strict equivalence between the use of static pushover and incremental dynamic analyses for the PBA. Pros and cons of the two methods are discussed, as well as some critical issues related to their application. A multiscale approach is proposed for the definition of the performance levels, which considers the seismic response at different scales: local damage in single elements, performance of single walls and horizontal diaphragms and global behavior. An original contribution is the use of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) technique for the correct interpretation of numerical and experimental dynamic results

Implications of cumulated seismic damage on the seismic performance of unreinforced masonry buildings

The seismic capacity of a structure is a function of the characteristics of the system as well as of its state, which is mainly affected by previous damage and deterioration. The cumulative damage from repeated shocks (for example during a seismic sequence or due to multiple events affecting an unrepaired building stock) affects the vulnerability of masonry buildings for subsequent events. This paper proposes an analytical methodology for the derivation of state-dependent fragility curves,taking into account cumulated seismic damage,whilst neglecting possible ageing effects. The methodology is based on nonlinear dynamic analyses of an equivalent single degree of freedom system,properly calibrated to reproduce the static and dynamic behaviour of the structure. An application of the proposed methodology to an unreinforced masonry case study building is also presented. The effect of cumulated damage on the seismic response of this prototype masonry building is further studied by means of nonlinear dynamic analyses with the accelerograms recorded during a real earthquake sequence that occurred in Canterbury (New Zealand) between 2010 and 2012