Seismic vulnerability analysis of traditional brick-wood buildings with cracks

Abstract

The evaluation of seismic vulnerability of traditional brick-wood buildings is hindered by the presence of cracks in their walls. The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of wall cracks on the vulnerability of traditional brick-wood buildings, with a specific focus on Zhang Fang's former residence in Kaifeng City as a representative case. The dynamic characteristics of the structure are analyzed by ambient vibration test. The stress analysis under static loading and the vulnerability analysis under different seismic waves are carried out for the finite element method (FEM) models with and without cracks to evaluate the failure probability of structure under damage state. The results show that the dynamic response characteristics of the FEM model with cracks are closer to the results of ambient vibration test than that of the FEM model without cracks. From the time-history analysis results, the acceleration and displacement of the structure are mainly transmitted and diffused along the longitudinal direction under seismic waves. With the increase of seismic intensity, the structural acceleration amplification factor tends to increase and then decrease, and the inter-story drift angle tends to increase. Compared the vulnerability analysis results of models with cracks to that of models without cracks, the failure probabilities of FEM model with cracks under different seismic intensity are higher. Consequently, it is crucial to consider wall cracks in numerical simulations of traditional brick-wood buildings in order to ensure more accurate results for seismic vulnerability analysis.