Out-of-plane assessment of an unreinforced masonry wall: Comparision with NZSEE recommendations

Abstract

Out-of-plane seismic assessment of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls is an important step in the assessment of a URM building. In this paper, a parametric study is performed on the assessment methodology proposed by the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, NZSEE, (NZSEE 2006). A single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) model is then used in time-history analysis (THA), and an alternative assessment method is proposed based on the obtained results. The results are next compared with the NZSEE recommendations. To perform the THA, a well-known commercially available finite element (FE) program is first correlated with a special THA computer program written by researchers in Australia. The commercial program is then used to predict the behaviour of a single-storey 2-leaf URM wall subjected to several earthquake records. The selected wall, having dimensions of 4100 mm high by 220 mm thick, is one of the most common configurations of URM walls found in New Zealand. Earthquake records are selected based on New Zealand seismicity, and the analysis is repeated to account for several soil conditions.