Displacement-based assessment of the seismic capacity of unreinforced masonry walls in bending

Abstract

In this paper, the displacement-based analysis procedure for the seismic assessment of unreinforced masonry walls in bending is refined to account for the dynamic response behaviour of the masonry building. The filtering effects in a masonry building are first determined in accordance with the in-plane force-displacement properties of the supporting walls. The filtered excitations transmitted to the upper floors in the building are then used for analysis of the walls’ out-of-plane flexural behaviour using traditional force-based (static and dynamic) analysis techniques. These results are then compared to displacement-based analytical predictions to highlight the potential conservatism of using only strength to assess the seismic resistance of masonry walls in bending.