Probabilistic performance-based seismic assessment of an existing masonry building

Abstract

Existing unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings represent a significant part of the constructed facilities. Unfortunately, in case of seismic actions, their structural behavior is negatively affected by the low capacity of masonry components to withstand lateral forces. For this reason, in the past decades, URM buildings have been responsible for fatalities and large economic losses even in the case of moderate earthquakes. This article presents the seismic loss assessment of an old masonry building damaged during the 2014 South Napa earthquake using the framework of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center’s Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering. For this purpose, the performance is expressed in terms of expected monetary loss curves for different hazard scenarios. Structural and non-structural losses are considered in the analysis using a practical, yet accurate, structural idealization of the URM building, which is validated by the observed damage from the 2014 South Napa earthquake.