The seismic analysis of a typical South African unreinforced masonry structure

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa has some regions which are susceptible to moderate seismic activity. A peak groundacceleration of between 0.1g and 0.15g can be expected in the southern parts of the WesternCape. Unreinforced Masonry (URM) is commonly used as a construction material for 2 to 4storey buildings in underprivileged areas in and around Cape Town. URM is typically regardedas the material most vulnerable to damage when subjected to earthquake excitation. In thisstudy, a three-storey URM building was analysed by applying seven earthquake time-histories,that can be expected to occur in South Africa, to a finite element model. Experimental data wasused to calibrate the in- and out-of-plane stiffness of the URM. A linear modal dynamic analysisand non-linear implicit dynamic analysis were performed. The results indicated that tensilecracking of the in-plane piers was the dominant failure mode. The building relied on the postcrackingcapacity to resist the 0.15g magnitude earthquake. It is concluded that URM buildingsof this type are at risk of failure especially if sufficient ductility is not provided. The resultsalso showed that connection failure must be investigated further. Construction and materialquality will have a large effect on the ability of typical URM buildings to withstand moderatemagnitude earthquakes in South Africa.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University