Stochastic-based vulnerability curves for the out-of-plane seismic safety assessment of URM walls

Abstract

Earthquakes are a major cause of damage and human losses to the built environment, including cultural heritages, monumental buildings and historical centers. In the last decades, the seismic performance of buildings has received special attention due to the interest in the built heritage conservation and protection of human life, particularly with respect to masonry structures which have shown evidence of poor behavior once subjected to seismic loads. The present work contributes to the seismic safety assessment of the out-of-plane behavior of unreinforced masonry walls through a displacement-based approach, providing the capacity for different out-of-plane geometric indexes and its seismic response in different earthquake-prone regions. The analyses are conducted using a seismic probabilistic framework, considering the most common out-of-plane mechanisms, different material properties, various slenderness ratios, and a wide range of seismicity levels to cover the seismic hazard in Europe. The results presented can be useful for seismic safety assessment and to incorporate vulnerability models for seismic risk analysis.