Pushover analysis for upgrading of existing residential masonry building

Abstract

Masonry is common used for classic building construction, but is known for its seismic vulnerability. The existing regulations in Serbia (Eurocode) demand control of the behaviour of masonry buildings exposed to seismic actions. For this it is most convenient to use, for engineering purposes, non-linear static (pushover) analysis. With the aim of increasing knowledge about the seismic behavior of different structural configurations created by upgrading an existing residential two-story masonry building, a comparative study was conducted on four different proposed models. This paper presents the most significant results of pushover analyses performed on a spatial model of the structure of the existing building that needs to be upgraded and on spatial models of the structures with an additional floor level and different positioning of vertical confining elements while evaluating their seismic capacity in compliance with the regulations. Two different lateral load distributions are assumed in computation since the appropriate lateral load profile is not always obvious. Based on various approaches, there are different identified responses.