Seismic Response of Full‐Scale Five‐Story Reinforced‐Masonry Building

Abstract

To verify new design guidelines for reinforced-masonry (RM) buildings in seismic zones, a full-scale five-storey RM research building was tested at the University of California, San Diego, under simulated seismic loads. This full-scale five-storey seismic-simulation test under laboratory conditions showed that even stiff-structural-wall-type masonry buildings can be designed to exhibit large ductilities under extreme seismic loads by controlled inelastic flexural behaviour in predetermined locations, and that analysis and design models exist that can predict the overall seismic response of the complete structural system. -from Authors