Numerical study on the seismic out-of-plane performance of URM walls

Abstract

Groningen area of the Netherlands is now under the increasing induced seismic risk. The out-of-plane (OOP) performance of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls is critical for the safety of buildings in that area. A comprehensive masonry material model has been developed in a finite element software DIANA. However, its performance in a dynamic OOP bending test has not yet been fully verified due to the lack of experimental evidences. Fortunately, recent shaking table tests performed in EUCENTRE (in Italy) provide the valuable references of the dynamic one-way OOP bending behaviors of URM walls. Therefore, a numerical comparison study using a dynamic non-linear analysis method was realized in this study. The relative OOP responses in the whole testing process were compared, especially in the near-collapse situation. The influences of various material and model parameters were assessed in the comparison. Results and conclusions drawn in this study have been used for model validation and parameter refinements.