Description

This book covers the seismic vulnerability assessment of unreinforced brick masonry (URBM) buildings. A method for seismic vulnerability assessment, based on the experimental results of series of URBM walls, is developed. The method produced satisfactory results when compared with the results of full-scale URBM buildings tested at various laboratories. The proposed method, although developed for URBM buildings, can also be applied to other types of masonry if the properties required to quantify the seismic performance are experimentally determined. The proposed method is used to assess the seismic risk of URBM building stock of Northern Pakistan as a case study. Fragility curves for buildings stock are drawn to determine the probabilities of occurrence of various performance levels at various levels of ground shaking. It is found that the probability of occurrence of damages corresponding to various performance levels of single- and double- story buildings do not differ significantly. It is also concluded that unreinforced brick masonry, if properly constructed, can be safely used in localities placed in seismic zone 2b as recommended by uniform Building code (UBC-97) and below