Seismic Performance Expectations for Australian Unreinforced Masonry Buildings

Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Canberra

REFERENCE

Griffith M.C., Derakhshan H., Vaculik J., Giaretton M., Dizhur D., Ingham J. (2017). Seismic performance expectations for Australian unreinforced masonry buildings. In the proceedings of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Newcastle, Australia.

Scope and methodology

• An overview of the recent and ongoing research into the seismic behaviour of unreinforced masonry (URM) construction in Australia

• Aim of reducing the building earthquake risk to public and provide cost-effective mitigation strategy.

• Seismic risk case study of Adelaide CBD

FINDINGS

• Significant risk to Adelaide CBD posed by a moderate Mw 6.0 earthquake.

• Importance of quantify the financial savings possible through various early seismic retrofit/strengthening options.

• A study of four URM buildings suggests that various code provisions underestimate (apporx 50%) floor accelerations (i.e. height amplification factors) for buildings with rigid floors.

• The peak floor accelerations in buildings with flexible diaphragms can be up to nearly 2 times greater than that in buildings with rigid floors. The Code approaches need to be updated.

• A comprehensive project is underway to improve the seismic resilience of LDRC and URM buildings in Australia. Case studies in York, WA and Melbourne’s CBD will be undertaken in conjunction with the CRC’s end users to provide the evidence base needed for local governments and building authorities to justify any increases to the respective seismic design and/or retrofit requirements.