Seismic behavior and retrofit masonary structures

地震事件期间结构失效造成的重大社会经济损失导致最近在加拿大和世界其他地区采用更严格的抗震设计要求，以减少此类损坏的可能性。在这方面，砌体结构（约占北美现有建筑物的70%）被认为特别容易受到地震破坏。许多现有的结构将需要改造，以符合目前的安全水平，但这需要改造方案，没有严重的经济影响。此外，需要开发新的施工技术以改善新的砌体结构在地震载荷下的性能，降低施工成本，并使与地震事件相关的经济和社会损失最小化。在这项研究中，将实施多层次的实验和分析计划，以评估有效和具有成本效益的改造/修复技术，并制定相关的设计准则。在试验计划中，各种砌体结构和系统将在不同的加载方案下模拟地震效应进行测试。该分析程序将侧重于开发能够模拟地震荷载下不同砌体结构的数值工具。本研究的主要目的是：1）量化砌体结构的地震反应，并引入新的施工技术来改善新型砌体结构的抗震性能; 2）通过开发有效的限制和结构完整性加固，加强加拿大在现有结构抗震修复领域的专门知识，并通过培训5名学士，4个硕士学位，一个PhD学生获得先进的知识，并参与应用为基础的研究，在地震工程。学生将获得实验室测试技术和高级数值建模方面的专业知识，这在咨询和学术界都具有很高的价值。

The major socioeconomic damages resulting from structural failures during seismic events have led to recently adopting more stringent seismic design requirements in Canada and other parts of the world to reduce the probability of such damage. In this regards, masonry structures (which constitute approximately 70% of existing inventory of buildings in North-America) are considered as particularly vulnerable to seismic damage. Many of these existing structures will need to be retrofitted to match current safety levels but this requires retrofit options that do not have serious economic impact. In addition, there is a need to develop new construction techniques to improve the performance of new masonry construction under seismic loading, reduce construction cost, and minimize economical and social losses associated with seismic events. In this research, multi-level experimental and analytical programs will be implemented to evaluate efficient and cost-effective retrofit/rehabilitation techniques and to develop related design guidelines. In the experimental program, various masonry structures and systems will be tested under different loading schemes simulating earthquake effects. The analytical program will focus on developing numerical tools capable of modeling different masonry structures under seismic loading. The objectives of the proposed research are to: 1) quantify the seismic response of masonry structures and to introduce new construction techniques to improve the seismic behavior of new masonry structures; and 2) strengthen the Canadian expertise in the field of seismic rehabilitation of existing structures by developing efficient confinement and structural integrity reinforcement, and transfer the knowledge for public use through training of 5 B.A.Sc., 4 M.A.Sc., and 1 Ph.D. students to acquire advanced knowledge and to participate in application-based research in earthquake engineering. Students will gain expertise in laboratory testing techniques and advanced numerical modeling that is highly valuable in both consulting and academia.