Development of Efficient Retrofit Method for Masonry Houses in Earthquake Prone Regions Considering Local availability, Applicability and Acceptability

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Masonry structures are widely used due to its low cost and construction easiness especially in developing countries. In spite of the efforts to provide guidelines for the construction of sound earthquake resistant houses, every year casualties due to collapsing masonry houses during earthquakes are reported. Although it is clear that retrofitting the existing housing stock is urgent, it has not been implemented extensively. To overcome this situation, retrofitting techniques involving inexpensive construction materials available in remote regions and low-skill labor as well as aggressive educational campaigns are needed. This research project proposes an innovative retrofitting method for adobe/masonry houses, which consists of using polypropylene bands arranged in meshes. These bands, which are commonly used for packing, are resistant, inexpensive, durable and worldwide available.In the research, installation procedures are discussed and experiments for material properties and dynamic behavior of masonry structures with and without retrofit by proposed method are carried out to verify the suitability of the proposed technique. Although cracking is not prevented by PP-band meshes, they efficiently increase the structure seismic capacity, particularly its ductility. The proposed retrofitting method improved the structure performance allowing a life safety damage level for a masonry structure subjected to a JMAI 6+ shaking.