Seismic performance and financial risk of masonry houses - Texas A&M University (TAMU) Scholar

Seismic behaviour of a typical unreinforced masonry (URM) brick house is experimentally investigated. A half-scale URM house model with aspect ratio of 1.5:1 in plan is constructed and tested on a shaking table, in the longitudinal direction for several earthquake ground motions with peak ground acceleration (PGA) up to 0.5g. The structure is then rotated by 90 and tested in the transverse (short) direction for ground motions with PGA up to 0.8g. A finite element analysis and a mechanism analysis are conducted to assess the dynamic properties and lateral strength of the model house. Seismic fragility function of the URM houses is developed based on the experimental results. Damping at different phases of the response is estimated by using an amplitude-dependent equivalent viscous damping model. Financial risk of similar URM houses is then estimated in terms of expected annual loss (EAL) by following a probabilistic financial risk assessment framework. Risks posed by different levels of damage and by earthquakes of different predominant frequencies are then examined.

Seismic performance and financial risk of masonry houses Academic Article