• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2022

In this study, the seismic performance of a two-story unreinforced masonry (URM) building was assessed following the linear and nonlinear static procedures specified in the seismic evaluation guideline of existing buildings. First, the provisions to assess failure modes and shear strengths of URM walls and wall piers were reviewed. Then, a two-story URM building was assessed by the linear static procedure using m-factors. The results showed that the walls and wall piers with aspect ratios h_e // (i.e., effective height-to-length ratio) > 1.5 were unsafe due to rocking or toe crushing, whereas the walls with h_e // ≤ 1.5 and governed by bed-joint sliding mainly were safe. Axial stresses and shear forces acted upon individual masonry walls, and wall piers differed depending on whether the openings were modeled. The masonry building was reevaluated according to the nonlinear static procedure for a more refined assessment. Based on the linear and nonlinear assessment results, considerations of seismic evaluation for low-rise masonry buildings were given with a focus on the effects of openings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.489-499
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• 2024

Infill masonry walls are vulnerable to lateral loads, including seismic, wind, and concentrated push loads. Various strengthening metal fittings have been proposed to improve lateral load resistance, particularly against seismic loads. This study introduces the use of post-compressed wedges as a novel reinforcement method for infill masonry walls to enhance lateral load resistance. The resistance of the infill masonry wall against lateral-concentrated push loads was assessed using an out-of-plane push-over test on specimens sized 2,300×2,410×190 mm³. The presence or absence of wedges and wedge spacing were set as variables. The push-over test results showed that both the unreinforced specimen and the specimen reinforced with 300 mm spaced wedges toppled, while the specimen reinforced with 100 mm spaced wedges remained upright. Peak loads were measured to be 0.74, 29.77, and 5.88 kN for unreinforced specimens and specimens reinforced with 100 mm and 300 mm spaced wedges, respectively. Notably, a tighter reinforcement spacing yielded a similar strength, as expected, which was attributed to the increased friction force between the masonry wall and steel frame. The W-series specimens exhibited a trend comparable to that of the displacement ductility ratio. Overall, the findings validate that post-compressed wedges improve the out-of-plane strength of infill masonry walls.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.599-614
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• 2018

This study focuses on the earthquake performance of two URM buildings having typical architectural configurations common for residential use constructed per pre-modern code in Albania. Both buildings are unreinforced clay brick masonry structures constructed in 1960 and 1984, respectively. The first building is a three-storey unreinforced one with masonry walls. The second one is confined masonry rising on five floors. Mechanical characteristics of masonry walls were determined based on experimental tests conducted according to ASTM C67-09 regulations. A global numerical model of the buildings was built, and masonry material was simulated as nonlinear. Pushover analyses are carried out to obtain capacity curves. Displacement demands were calculated according to Eurocode 8 and FEMA440 guidelines. Causes of building failures in recent earthquakes were examined using the results of this study. The results of the study showed that the URM building displays higher displacement and shear force demands that can be directly related to damage or collapse. On the other hand, the confined one exhibits relatively higher seismic resistance by indicating moderate damage. Moreover, effects of demand estimation approaches on performance assessment of URM buildings were compared. Deficiencies and possible solutions to improve the capacity of such buildings were discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.611-619
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• 2018

This paper addresses numerical modeling and nonlinear analysis of unreinforced masonry walls and vaults externally strengthened using fiber reinforced polymers (FRP). The aim of the research is to provide a simple method for design of strengthening interventions for masonry arched structures while considering the nonlinear behavior. Several brick masonry walls and vaults externally strengthened by FRP which have been previously tested experimentally are modeled using finite elements. Numerical modeling and nonlinear analysis are performed using commercial software. Description of the modeling, material characterization and solution parameters are given. The obtained numerical results demonstrate that externally applied FRP strengthening increased the ultimate capacity of the walls and vaults and improved their failure mode. The numerical results are in good agreement with the experimentally obtained ultimate failure load, maximum displacement and crack pattern; which demonstrates the capability of the proposed modeling scheme to simulate efficiently the actual behavior of FRP-strengthened masonry elements. Application is made on a historic masonry dome and the numerical analysis managed to explain its structural behavior before and after strengthening. The modeling approach may thus be regarded a practical and valid tool for design of strengthening interventions for contemporary or historic unreinforced masonry elements using externally bonded FRP.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.13-20
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• 2017

Unreinforced masonry buildings are vulnerable to lateral forces, such as earthquakes, owing to the nature of the building materials, yet numerous masonry buildings remain in South Korea. Since the majority of the existing masonry buildings were constructed more than 20 years ago, it is necessary to develop economical reinforcement methods for disaster reduction. In this study, external reinforcement of masonry walls using adhesive stiffeners was proposed as a reinforcement method for such age-old masonry buildings. Six specimens were fabricated with different aspect ratios (L/H = 1.0, 1.3, and 2.0) and used in static load tests to verify the reinforcement effect. The experimental results showed that the masonry walls before and after reinforcement were ruptured by rigid body rotation and slip. In addition, the maximum strength, maximum displacement, and dissipated energy of the walls were shown to increase after applying the adhesive stiffeners, thereby verifying the excellent reinforcement effect. Furthermore, an adhesive stiffener design for unreinforced masonry walls was proposed based on the increased shear strength achieved by using conventional glass fibers. The proposed design can be used as a basis for the application of adhesive stiffeners for unreinforced masonry walls.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.305-313
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• 2012

Unreinforced masonry buildings represent a significant portion of the existing and historical buildings around the world. Recent earthquakes have shown the need for seismic retrofitting for these types of buildings. Various types of retrofitting materials (i.e., shotcrete, ECC and Fiber Reinforced Polymer sheets (FRPs)) for unreinforced masonry buildings (URM) have been developed. Engineers prefer to use FRPs, because these materials enhance the shear strength of the wall without expansion of wall sectional area and adding weight to the total structure. However, the complexity of the mechanical behavior of the masonry wall and the lack of experimental data from walls retrofitted by FRPs may cause problems for engineers to determine an appropriate retrofitting level. This paper investigate in-plane behavior of URM and retrofitted masonry walls using two different types of FRP materials to determine and provide information for the retrofitting effect of FRPs on masonry shear walls. Specimens were designed to idealize the wall of a low-rise apartment which was built in 1970s in Korea with no seismic reinforcements with an aspect ratio of 1. Retrofitting materials were carbon FRP and Hybrid sheets which have different elastic modulus and ultimate strain capacities. Consequently, this study evaluated the structural capacity of masonry shear walls and the retrofitting effect of an FRP sheet for in-plane behavior. Also, the results were compared to the results obtained from the evaluation method for a reinforced concrete beam retrofitted with FRPs.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.283-291
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• 2018

This study intends to develop an analytical model of unreinforced masonry(URM) walls for the nonlinear static analysis which has been generally used to evaluate the seismic performance of a building employing URM walls as seismic force-resisting members. The developed model consists of fiber elements used to capture the flexural behavior of an URM wall and a shear spring element implemented to predict its shear response. This paper first explains the configuration of the proposed model and describes how to determine the modeling parameters of fiber and shear spring elements based on the stress-strain curves obtained from existing experimental results of masonry prisms. The proposed model is then verified throughout the comparison of its nonlinear static analysis results with the experimental results of URM walls carried out by other researchers. The proposed model well captures the maximum strength, the initial stiffness, and their resulting load - displacement curves of the URM walls with reasonable resolution. Also, it is demonstrated that the analysis model is capable of predicting the failure modes of the URM walls.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.83 no.6
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• pp.799-810
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• 2022

This study investigated the effect of the strengthening efficiency of unbonded steel-bar truss system on the out-of-plane behavior of perforated masonry walls. Four full-scale unreinforced masonry (URM) walls with two different planes were prepared using the unbonded steel-bar truss system and a URM walls without strengthening. All masonry walls were tested under constant axial and cyclic lateral loads. The obtained test results indicated that the pinching effect in the out-plane behavior of masonry walls tends to decrease in the in- and out-of-plane strengthened URM walls using the unbonded steel-bar truss system with the higher prestressing force ratio (R_p) of vertical reinforcing bars in the unbonded steel-bar truss system, regardless of the perforated type of the masonry wall. Consequently, the highest maximum shear resistance and cumulative dissipated energy at peak load in the post-peak behavior were observed in the in- and out-plane strengthened URM walls with the highest R_p values, which are 2.7 and 6.0 times higher than those of URM. In particular, the strengthening efficiency of the unbonded steel-bar truss system was primarily attributed to the vertical prestressed steel-bars rather than the diagonal steel-bars, which indicates that the strains in the vertical prestressed steel-bars at the peak load were approximately 1.6 times higher than those in the diagonal steel-bars.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.182-185
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• 2006

The objective of this study is to evaluate residual seismic capacity of Unreinforced Masonry(URM) walls which were damaged by earthquake through the measurement of frequency. Three URM walls which made the shape ratio(1/h, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0)to be a variable were tested for the objective. It was seen that the natural frequency decreased with growing at rotation angle. Also, this study found out that residual seismic capacity and natural frequency of URM walls is correlative.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.45-52
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• 2001

A series of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls were analytically investigated for a limited version of seismic in-plane performance. For this URM walls were assumed to be an elastic continuum and modeled as isotropic plane stress elements within which the nature of cracking was propagated. Accordingly, cracking mode of behavior in URM was modeled by smeared-crack approach. Total of 70 cases were considered for various parameters such as axial load ratio, aspect ratio and effective section area ratio due to the existence of opening, etc. The analysis results indicated a general tendency in base shear coefficient and deformability of URM walls for these variables.