The seismic performance of heritage URM buildings: A parametric study

Abstract

Research is currently underway at The University of Newcastle, Australia regarding assessment of the seismic performance of the culturally significant unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. The first part of the project has been contemplated by performing a series of finite element analyses followed by the equivalent experimental tests on two leaves thick perforated URM walls which vary in the spandrel depths and the level of pre-compression stresses. The shape of the walls and their openings are representative of heritage masonry facades used in prevalent Australian URM structures. The current paper presents a parametric study on small scale one storey URM buildings using the characteristics of the mentioned URM walls to determine the performance of the hypothetical small heritage structure under seismic actions. The various parameters used in the current study are the stiffness of floor diaphragms, the opening aspect ratio which results in shallow or deep spandrels, considering one or two-sided openings in the structure which helps study the torsion effect and the pushover loading direction. The results are provided through comparison of the related structural factors and the equivalent capacity curves.