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<p>Unreinforced masonry (URM) constitutes a large part of current building inventory worldwide, and this type of construction also represents a major seismic risk, especially in developing countries where URM is widely used. During an earthquake, URM walls are unable to dissipate seismic forces without experiencing considerable damage or collapse. Due to their lack of ductility, URM walls fail in a brittle manner, which can leads to damaged face shells becoming falling debris and a major source of hazard. The aim of this study is to investigate the applicability of using polyurethane foams as an inexpensive reinforcement technique for both retrofitting existing and new URM construction.</p> <p>Experimental testing of the reinforced masonry walls showed a large increase in the resiliency of the wall, with an increase in the out-of-plane capacity of up to 34 times over the URM specimen, and with the addition of rope reinforcement an increase in the out-of-plane capacity of up to 90 times the URM specimen was achieved. This system allows walls to experience a considerable amount of deflection before ultimate failure is reached. Within certain limits, the polyurethane foam is able to demonstrate elastic characteristics. By developing foam with higher densities, higher compressive, tensile, flexural and shear strengths can be reached. This type of reinforcement allows for less damage during low seismic events, and through the greater resiliency of the system, walls are able to remain stable and exhibit post-peak strength during a stronger seismic event. In its ultimate limit state, the wall will fail, however collapse is typically prevented – reducing the amount of hazardous debris and saving the lives of the buildings occupants.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Résumé : Cette juxtaposition de matériaux solides -blocs, pierres ou briques,...- liés ou non entre eux que nous appelons maçonnerie ne se comporte pas très bien vis-à-vis des forces latérales, surtout si elle n’a pas été réalisée suivant les normes parasismiques ou de façon adéquate. Cette vulnérabilité (glissement, cisaillement, déchirure en flexion, ou tout autre) vient souvent du fait même de ce processus d’empilement, des problèmes d’interaction avec le reste de la structure et aussi à cause des caractéristiques mécaniques peu fiables de certains éléments utilisés. Malgré cette défaillance structurale, la maçonnerie est encore utilisée aujourd’hui grâce à son côté traditionnel, sa facilité de mise en œuvre et son coût d’utilisation peu élevé. Depuis quelques années, la maçonnerie s’est enrichie de documents qui ont été publiés par divers chercheurs dans le but d’une meilleure compréhension des caractéristiques mécaniques des éléments et aussi, et surtout, des mécanismes de rupture des murs de maçonnerie pour une meilleure réponse face aux sollicitations sismiques. Beaucoup de programmes expérimentaux ont alors été effectués et tant d’autres sont encore nécessaires. Et c’est dans ce contexte que cette recherche a été conduite. Elle présentera, entre autres, le comportement sous charges latérales d’un mur en maçonnerie armée entièrement rempli de coulis. Ce projet de recherche fait partie d’un programme plus large visant à une meilleure connaissance du comportement sismique de la maçonnerie pour une amélioration des techniques de construction et de réparation des ouvrages en maçonnerie. / Abstract : This juxtaposition of solid materials -blocks, stones or bricks, ...- linked or not together called masonry does not behave very well towards lateral forces, especially if it has not been carried out according to seismic standards or enough adequate. This vulnerability - sliding, shearing, bending tear, or otherwise- comes often precisely because of this process of stacking, problems of interaction with the rest of the structure and also because of unreliable mechanical characteristics of used items. Despite this structural failure, masonry is still used today because of its traditional side, ease of implementation and low cost of use. In recent years, masonry was enriched with documents published by various researchers to a better understanding of the mechanical properties elements and also, above all, of the failure mechanisms masonry walls for a better response to seismic loading. Many experiences were then performed and many others are still necessary ; and therefore the Canada has for some time been involved in this adventure. And it is in this direction that goes this document. It presents, among others, the behavior under lateral loads of a reinforced masonry wall completely filled with grout. This research project is part of a broader program to a better understanding of the seismic behavior of masonry for an improvement of design and repair techniques of masonry.

Unreinforced masonry (URM) construction, which has been widely used in the United States, presents a large threat to life safety and regional economic development because of its poor seismic resistance. In this research, the nonlinear seismic properties of URM structures were investigated via a quasi-static test of a full-scale two-story URM building and associated analytical and numerical studies. The tests of the 24ft. by 24ft. in plan 22ft. high URM building revealed that the damage was characterized by (1) the formation of large discrete cracks in the masonry walls and (2) the rocking and sliding of URM piers. Both of these results were consistent with the predictions based on individual component properties obtained in previous research. However, the tests also revealed significant global behavior phenomena, including flange effects, overturning moment effects, and the formation of different effective piers in a perforated wall. This global behavior greatly affected the response of the URM building tested. In order to understand the nonlinear behavior of the test structure, a series of analytical studies were conducted. First, at the material level, a mechanical key model was proposed to describe the failure of URM assemblages under a biaxial state of stress. Second, at the component level, an effective pier model was developed to illustrate the mixed failure modes of a URM pier and its nonlinear force-deformation relationship. Third, at the structure level, a nonlinear pushover model was built using the mechanical models at the material and component levels to describe the nonlinear properties of a URM building. This nonlinear pushover model and a three-dimensional finite element model were employed to analyze the test structure. Both gave results in good agreement with the test data. Improvements to current provisions for the evaluation of existing masonry structures were proposed.

There are many advantages of masonry construction like widespread geographic availability in many forms, colors and textures, comparative cheapness, fire resistance, thermal and sound insulation, durability, etc. For such reasons, it is still a commonly used type of residential construction in rural and even in urban regions. Unfortunately, its behavior especially under the effect of earthquake ground motions has not been identified clearly because of its complex material nature. Hence, the masonry buildings with structural deficiencies belong to the most vulnerable class of structures which have experienced heavy damage or even total collapse in previous earthquakes, especially in developing countries like Turkey. This necessitates new contemporary methods for designing safer masonry structures or assessing their performance. Considering all these facts, this study aims at the generation of a new performance-based technique for unreinforced brick masonry structures. First, simplified formulations are recommended to estimate idealized capacity curve parameters of masonry components (piers) by using the finite element analysis results of ANSYS and regression analysis through SPSS software. Local limit states for individual masonry piers are also obtained. Then, by combining the component behavior, lateral capacity curve of the masonry building is constructed together with the global limit states. The final step is to define seismic demand of the design earthquake from the building through TEC2007 method. By using this simple technique, a large population of masonry buildings can be examined in a relatively short period of time noting that the performance estimations are quite reliable since they are based on sophisticated finite element analysis results.

Yes / Because of the recent worldwide construction expansion, new roads and buildings may be constructed over already existing buried infrastructures e.g. buried utility pipes, leading to excessive loads threatening their stability and longevity. Limited research studies are available to assess the effect of geogrid reinforcing layers inclusion on mitigating the additional stresses on buried structures due to cyclic loadings. In this research, large-scale fully instrumented laboratory tests were conducted to investigate the behaviour of flexible High-Density Polyethylene pipes (HDPE), in unreinforced and geogrid-reinforced sand, subjected to incrementally increasing cyclic loading, e.g. due to different vehicles capacities or load increase with passing time. Results illustrated that deformation rate in pipe and footing, strain generation rate in pipe and reinforcing layers are rapidly increased in the initial loading cycles, in particular during the first 300 cycles, and then the rate of change decreases significantly, as more cycles are applied. In the unreinforced case, increasing the pipe burial depth significantly reduced the generated deformation and strain in the pipe; however, it has a situational effect on the footing settlement, where it increased after pipe burial depth to its diameter ratio (H/D) of 2.5. In reinforced cases, deformation and strain significantly reduced with the increase in pipe burial depth and number of reinforcing layers. Measurement of strain illustrated that strain generated in the lower reinforcing layer is always higher than that recorded in the upper one, regardless pipe burial depth and value of applied load.

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa has some regions which are susceptible to moderate seismic activity. A peak ground acceleration of between 0.1g and 0.15g can be expected in the southern parts of the Western Cape. Unreinforced Masonry (URM) is commonly used as a construction material for 2 to 4 storey buildings in underprivileged areas in and around Cape Town. URM is typically regarded as the material most vulnerable to damage when subjected to earthquake excitation. In this study, 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 was used to calibrate the in- and out-of-plane stiffness of the URM. A linear modal dynamic analysis and non-linear implicit dynamic analysis were performed. The results indicated that tensile cracking of the in-plane piers was the dominant failure mode. The building relied on the postcracking capacity to resist the 0.15g magnitude earthquake. It is concluded that URM buildings of this type are at risk of failure especially if sufficient ductility is not provided. The results also showed that connection failure must be investigated further. Construction and material quality will have a large effect on the ability of typical URM buildings to withstand moderate magnitude earthquakes in South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sekere gebiede in Suid-Afrika het ’n risiko van matige seismiese aktiwiteit. Aardbewings met maksimum grondversnellings van tussen 0.1g en 0.15g kan in die suidelike gedeeltes van die Wes- Kaap voorkom. Twee- tot vier-verdieping onbewapende messelwerkgeboue kom algemeen voor in die lae sosio-ekonomiese gebiede van Kaapstad. Oor die algemeen word onbewapende messelwerkgeboue as die gebou-tipe beskou wat die maklikste skade opdoen tydens aardbewings. In hierdie studie is sewe aardbewings, wat tipies in Kaapstad verwag kan word, identifiseer en gebruik om ’n tipiese drie-verdieping onbewapende messelwerkgebou te analiseer. Eksperimentele data is gebruik om die materiaaleienskappe in die in-vlak asook uit-vlak rigtings te kalibreer. Beide ’n liniêre modale en nie-liniˆere implisiete dinamiese analises is uitgevoer. Die resultate dui daarop dat die dominante falingsmode die kraak van in-vlak messelwerk-tussenkolomme is. Die gebou moes sy plastiese kapasiteit benut om die 0.15g aardbewing te kan weerstaan. Die gevolgtrekking is dat dié tipe onbewapende messelwerkgeboue ’n risiko inhou om mee te gee, veral as genoegsame vervormbaarheid nie verskaf word nie. Die resultate toon ook dat konneksie-faling verder ondersoek moet word. Kwaliteit van vakmanskap en van materiaal het ’n groot invoed op die vermoë van onbewapende messelwerkgeboue om aardbewings van matige intensiteit in Suid-Afrika te weerstaan.

Although performance based assessment procedures are mainly developed for reinforced concrete and steel buildings, URM buildings occupy significant portion of building stock in earthquake prone areas of the world as well as in Turkey. Variability of material properties, non-engineered nature of the construction and difficulties in structural analysis of perforated walls make analysis of URM buildings challenging. Despite sophisticated finite element models satisfy the modeling requirements, extensive experimental data for definition of material behavior and high computational resources are needed. Recently, nonlinear equivalent frame models which are developed assigning lumped plastic hinges to isotropic and homogenous equivalent frame elements are used for nonlinear modeling of URM buildings. The work presented in this thesis is about performance assessment of unreinforced brick masonry buildings in Turkey through nonlinear equivalent frame modeling technique. Reliability of the proposed model is tested with a reversed cyclic experiment conducted on a full scale, two-story URM building at the University of Pavia and a dynamic shake table test on a half scale, two story URM building at the Ismes Laboratory at Bergamo. Good agreement between numerical and experimental results is found. Finally, pushover and nonlinear time history analyses of three unreinforced brick masonry buildings which are damaged in 1995 earthquake of Dinar is conducted using the proposed three dimensional nonlinear equivalent model. After displacement demands of the buildings are determined utilizing Turkish Earthquake Code 2007, performance based assessment of the buildings are done.

Masters Research - Master of Philospohy (MPhil) / It has been shown that masonry material properties, in particular, unit flexural bond strength (ft), vary significantly throughout masonry structures, despite the fact that often only one type of brick and mortar are used. Unit flexural bond strength was previously identified as one of the most important material parameters contributing to the strength of clay brick unreinforced masonry (URM) walls in flexure. It was the objectives of this research, in the context of clay brick URM walls subject to vertical bending, to examine how unit flexural bond strength varied spatially in a clay brick URM wall, determine a best fit probability distribution function which can describe expected variability in unit flexural bond strength and determine how this variability and other factors affect wall behaviour and failure load using 3D non-linear finite element analysis (FEA). It was hoped that modelling a full sized clay brick URM wall subject to vertical bending using a 3D non-linear FEA model would more accurately predict wall failure load (compared to current analytical methods) and allow the examination of crack pattern development as the wall progresses to failure upon being laterally loaded. The first part of the research project was to conduct an experimental program to examine unit-to-unit spatial strength correlation within six full sized clay brick URM walls and to characterise a unit flexural bond strength probability distribution. It was observed that although weak correlation in unit flexural bond strength exists in some courses and between courses, these locations were difficult to predict and didn����t follow any particular pattern relating to for example, mortar batch. Therefore, although somewhat counter-intuitive, the results indicate that statistically significant correlation between adjacent unit flexural bond strengths is not likely to be observed. It was also observed that clay brick wall unit flexural bond strengths obtained for all of the walls tested best fit a truncated Normal probability distribution. Strength of the brick/mortar interface appeared to be governed by factors relating to workmanship (and therefore mortar quality and moisture content), weather (which can affect material characteristics like brick suction rate) and inherent material variability. It would appear that brick suction rate can significantly affect the overall strength of a URM wall. v Stochastic analysis was conducted for walls with and without uncorrelated spatial variability in unit flexural bond strength and associated tensile fracture energy (GfI ). It was found that the TNO DIANA 9.2 FEA package could be used to implement spatial variability of various material parameters and reasonably accurately model failure of clay brick URM walls in vertical bending. From the non-linear FEA model development stage, it was observed that because the brick/mortar bond has significantly more strength capacity in compression, it appears that the lateral load resistance of the wall comes from a combination of the ability of the brick/mortar bond to tensile soften while providing significant compressive resistance at the compressive edge. It was found for a spatial stochastic analysis with spatial variability in bond strength (referred to from now on as a spatial stochastic analysis), with COVs of 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5, that COV of wall failure loads were relatively small, being 0.02, 0.04 and 0.06 respectively. For the non-spatially varying stochastic analysis with fully correlated bond strength (now referred to as non-spatial stochastic analysis), with COVs of 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5, COV of wall failure loads were 0.07, 0.20 and 0.32 respectively. For the spatial stochastic analysis, it was found that with a bond strength COV increase from 0.1 to 0.5 the mean wall failure load dropped from 2.25 kPa to 2.0 kPa (an 11% reduction). Despite the relatively small drop in magnitude of the mean wall failure load with increase in bond strength COV, the mean wall failure loads were statistically different to one another. For the non-spatial stochastic analysis, mean failure load stayed relatively constant at 2.24-2.25 kPa. These results could be explained by examining the 3D wall progression to failure. For walls with spatial variability in bond strength, it is expected that wall failure load COVs would be smaller because those walls would consistently be composed of smaller valued bond strengths which would consistently contribute to weakness in the wall. For the non-spatial wall simulations, this effect would not occur as failure load is determined by one uniform weak or strong bond strength. It was proposed that failure of a clay brick URM wall is not governed by one course only cracking, but rather, instability in the wall is governed by several courses in the vicinity of locations of large bending moment. It was shown that various current stochastic approximations which employ a unit failure hypotheses in combination with a linear/elastic approximation for first cracking load all underestimated wall capacity significantly. The reason for this is suggested as being vi because all hypotheses only assume failure is governed by one course and linear/elastic theory only considers the tensile capacity of a joint and neglects strength capacity available as a result of joint tension softening and the resistance to failure provided by compressive strength on the compression side of the wall. The hypotheses also don’t take into consideration factors which affect overall wall bond strength mean which result from influences such as workmanship, weather and material variability factors, such as (for example), variation in brick suction rate due to weather conditions which can make the overall strength of the wall stronger or weaker. Based upon a comparison in wall failure load COV for the spatial and non-spatial stochastic wall analysis results, a more realistic approach for future modelling attempts of spatial variability in masonry material properties is suggested. This would address the issue of external factors such as workmanship and weather on the overall strength of the wall, as well as the inherent bond strength variability due to material variability. For walls with spatial variability in bond strength, upon examination of numerous wall simulation results, several crack patterns were witnessed and are discussed.

La France Métropolitaine est composée de régions à sismicité modérée mais néanmoins vulnérables aux tremblements de terre. En effet, 85% des bâtiments existants ont été construits avant l’apparition des règles de construction parasismique. Pour évaluer la vulnérabilité sismique de ces structures, il existe différentes méthodes à grande échelle telles que Hazus ou Risk-UE, non adaptées à l’échelle d’un bâtiment. Deux typologies de structures ont été étudiées dans ce travail : les structures récentes en béton armé représentatives des grands bâtiments stratégiques, et les structures en maçonnerie non renforcée, représentatives des centres villes historiques. Compte-tenu de la sismicité modérée, les structures récentes en béton armé ont un comportement linéaire élastique. Dans ce cadre, l’instrumentation d’un bâtiment, tel que la Tour de l’Ophite, est essentielle car elle permet de déterminer les vibrations ambiantes d’une structure et d’en extraire les paramètres modaux (fréquences propres, amortissements et déformées modales) qui incluent naturellement des informations sur la qualité des matériaux utilisés, leur vieillissement, leur endommagement, etc. De plus, un outil, basé sur la méthode stochastique par sous-espaces à l’aide des matrices de covariance (SSI-COV), a été développé afin de détecter au mieux les modes propres très proches (modes doubles), lors du traitement des données issues de l’instrumentation de la Tour de l’Ophite. Un modèle numérique par Eléments Finis est également proposé afin de prédire, dans le domaine linéaire, les déplacements de la Tour de l’Ophite soumise à un séisme identique à celui des Abruzzes en Italie en 2009. Pour les structures en maçonnerie non renforcée, un modèle de comportement non-linéaire des matériaux, avec une approche de type endommagement fragile, a été développé et utilisé pour la simulation numérique du comportement ductile des panneaux, remplaçant ainsi la mise en œuvre d’essais expérimentaux lourds et coûteux. A partir des travaux précédents, une méthodologie analytique d’évaluation de la vulnérabilité sismique des bâtiments existants, validée par comparaison avec le code numérique TreMuRi, est proposée et appliquée à un bâtiment. Par exemple, la généricité de notre méthodologie a permis de mener une investigation sur un matériau local, les murs en galets. / France is a country composed of moderate seismic hazard regions however vulnerable to earthquakes. 85% of existing buildings have been built before the application of paraseismic codes. Several current large-scale seismic vulnerability assessment methods are used, such as Hazus or Risk-UE, but they are inappropriate for specific building analysis. Two structure types have been evaluated in this thesis; the recent reinforced concrete structures for high strategic buildings, and the unreinforced masonry structures, for historical city centres. In view of the moderate seismic risk, recent reinforced concrete structures have an elastic behaviour. In this context, the instrumentation of a building, such as the Ophite Tower, is essential as it determines the ambient vibrations of a structure and extracts modal parameters (natural frequencies, modal shapes and damping), which naturally include information such as quality of materials, ageing, damage, etc. Moreover, as a tool based on the Covariance driven Stochastic Subspace Identification method (SSI-COV), it was developed in order to improve the detection of very close natural modes (double modes), during data processing from the instrumentation of Ophite Tower. A Finite Element numerical model (linear) was also proposed to predict the displacements of Ophite Tower under a seismic motion similar to Abruzzes earthquake (Italy, 2009). For unreinforced masonry structures, a model for nonlinear behaviour of materials with a brittle cracking approach has been developed. This is used for the numerical simulation of the ductile behaviour of panels and replaces the expensive experimental tests. From previous works, an analytical seismic vulnerability assessment method of existing buildings, validated par comparison with TreMuRi code, was proposed and applied to a building. For example, the genericity of this methodology has led to an investigation of a local material (pier walls).