Numerical study of the effect of seismic in-plane damage on out-of-plane performance of unreinforced Masonry walls

Previous earthquake reports have highlighted the high vulnerability of masonry walls to failure when subjected to the out-of-plane (OOP) loading. Particularly, this OOP failure is a significant cause of collapse in unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, especially those with slender walls and large openings. Moreover, in the past they were...

A comparison study of numerical modeling approaches for simulating the in-plane seismic response of masonry walls: Comparing unreinforced masonry walls with masonry walls retrofitted with the bed-joint reinforcement technique

The extraction of natural gas in the northern part of the Netherlands, from the region of Groningen, has been causing human-induced seismic activities for the past several decades. This is a problem since the existing building stock in this region, which consists of mainly unreinforced masonry buildings and historical structures, are not...

Influence of Geometrical irregularities on the in-plane behaviour of a masonry wall façade in macro-element based and analytical mechanism based analyses

The seismic assessment of unreinforced masonry structures in Groningen is still ongoing. The assessment is vital to determine whether a building must be strengthened or not. Different assessment approaches have been followed in recent years. First, the Non Linear Time-History analyses (NLTHA) were initially the only approach used for the seismic...

Numerical Modeling of the In-Plane Seismic Behavior of Unreinforced Masonry Wall Retrofitted with Bed Joint Reinforcements

Gas-induced earthquakes are a major problem in the north of the Netherlands due to many unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings being located in this area. To improve the seismic performance of the URM buildings, existing structures must be retrofitted and if the aesthetic of the building is important, the implemented retrofitting technique must...

Behaviour of two-way spanning walls subjected to out-of-plane loading by numerical analysis

Unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings are vulnerable when subjected to out-of-plane dynamic loading, especially under as earthquakes. Within the masonry building, the wall spanning in the direction perpendicular to the seismic loading is the most critical component. Damage to these walls (out-of-plane failure) frequently leads to the partial or...