Seismic performance of

Masonry Buildings

Dr. S. K. Prasad
Professor of Civil Engineering
S. J. College of Engineering, Mysore
prasad_s_k@hotmail.com
 MASONRY
Advantages
• No formwork
• Greater flexibility in terms of plan forms
• Plays a dual role – functional and structural
• Economy
• Durable

Disadvantages
• Structurally very complex
• Brittle
• Heavy
• Too many variables!
 Masonry is a composite construction consisting of:
 Adobe (Sun dried mud blocks)
 Stone, Laterite blocks
 Burnt clay bricks
 Masonry units  Concrete blocks (solid or hollow)
 Calcium silicate bricks
 Stabilized mud blocks (SMB)
 Fly-ash gypsum blocks

•Mud mortar
•Lime sand mortar
 Mortar •Cement, lime, sand mortar
•Cement sand mortar
•Composite mortars( cement, lime, soil, sand and additives)

•Metallic
 Reinforcement
•Non-metallic
 Country brick
Based on method employed in production, 3 types
 Table moulded brick
of burnt clay bricks are available in India viz.
 Wire-cut brick
 Earthquake
Protection
(Coburn and
Spence, 2002)

Majority of Housing
Buildings are made of
Masonry and RC
Grade Damage Description
Negligible to slight damage (no structural damage);
Hair line cracks in few walls; fall of small pieces of
1 plaster only; fall of loose stones from upper part of
building in very few cases
Moderate damage (slight structural damage, moderate
non-structural damage), Large and extensive cracks in
2 many walls; fall of fairly large pieces of plaster; parts
of chimneys fall down.
Substantial to heavy damage (moderate structural
damage, heavy non-structural damage); large and
3 extensive cracks in most walls; pan tiles or slates slip
off; chimneys are broken at roof line; failure of
individual non-structural elements.
Very heavy damage (heavy structural damage, very
heavy non-structural damage);serious failure of walls;
4 partial structural collapse.

Destruction (very heavy structural damage) ; Total or

near total collapse.
5 European macroseismic scale (EMS)
Typical damage during earthquake
1. Cracks between walls and floor
2. Cracks at corners and at wall intersections
3. Out-of –plane collapse of perimetral walls
4. Cracks in spandrel beams
5. Diagonal cracks in structural walls
6. Partial disintegration or collapse of walls
7. Partial or complete collapse of building
Out-of-plane collapse of sandstone in lime mortar masonry wall
(MORBI)
House with lintel band and columns (SAMAKHYALI)
Combination of in-plane and out-of-plane failure
(Samakhyali)
 Separation of
corner column
from the
neighbouring
masonry
(SAMAKHYALI)
Stone masonry building in CM – minor damage(BHUJ)
Out-of-plane failure of wall leading to collapse of lintel band (BHUJ)
Corner failure
(BHUJ)
Collapse of walls between openings (KHAVDA)
Rigid box like behaviour above lintel band (BHACHAU)
Collapse of RC slab and
Masonry (Morbi)

Shear cracks in stair-case room

of a school building (Morbi)
Damage due to a combination of in-plane and
out-of-plane vibration (Samakhyali)
Out-of-plane collapse of stair case room of a school building
(Morbi)
 Wall flexure – RC
roof on stone-in-CM
(Lodhrani)
Shear Cracks in an unreinforced brick masonry
building from 1993 Kilari earthquake
Summary of types of masonry building damages

Out-of-plane collapse and or shear failure

In-plane shear and or flexure failure
Separation of wall junctions
Failure of masonry pier in between openings
Local failures
Buckling of wythes
Separation of roof from walls
Out-of-plane failure in (URM) building Out-of-plane failure in building with band

Shear failure in(URM) building Failure of masonry pier between openings

Separation
of wall at
Buckling
junction of wythes

Separation
of roof
Out-of-plane failure and buckling of wythes
Typical X-type crack
Out of plane flexural collapse
Concepts for earthquake
resistant masonry
Response of structures to earthquake depends on
1. Natural frequencies of the structure (which is dependent
on Mass (M) and Stiffness (K)
2. Frequency content of earthquake
3. Amplitude of earthquake
4. Duration of earthquake
5. Ductility
6. Damping characteristics (energy dissipation capacity)
7. Structural integrity
M x  C x  K x  f t 

K    M   0
2

EIGEN Natural
values frequencies
 
EIGEN Mode
vectors shapes
 STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS & MASONRY BUILDINGS

QUASI-STATIC RESONANT

Quasi static behaviour: fundamental frequency

of building is below the range of frequencies in
ground motion

Resonant behaviour: fundamental and other higher

frequencies of building are within the range of
frequencies in ground motion

Inertial behaviour: fundamental frequency of building

is above the range of ground frequencies

INERTIAL
 period range of
masonry buildings
 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
TYPE OF EQ. CRITERION

MILD Frequent occurrence

NO STRUCTURAL DAMAGES
ADMISSIBLE, NON-STRUCTURAL
DAMAGES ALLOWED BUT REPAIRABLE
MODERATE May occur once during the life-time of
a structure
ALLOW MINOR BUT REPAIRABLE
STRUCTURAL DAMAGES
MAJOR Very rare possibility
MAJOR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE
ALLOWED, BUT STRUCTURE SHOULD
NOT COLLAPSE
Design Principles
Achieve strength and ductile behaviour
Maintain structural integrity

In relatively simple and cost effective

manner!
Basic requirements
1. Keep the structural behaviour of the building as
simple as possible
2. Avoid asymmetric buildings that could lead to huge
shear stresses due to torsion
3. Avoid stiffness and mass irregularities
4. Avoid re-entrant corners, provide seismic gaps
5. Avoid horizontal and vertical geometric discontinuity
6. Avoid out-of-plane offsets and non-parallel systems
Different ways of reinforcing masonry
Different ways of reinforcing masonry
Alternate Courses of QUETTA bond
BIS CODAL PROVISIONS: IS: 4326-1993

• HORIZONTAL RC BANDS AT LINTEL

AND ROOF LEVELS

• VERTICAL STEEL AT CORNERS,

JUNCTIONS AND DOOR & WINDOW
JAMBS
 CONTAINMENT REINFORCEMENT
• Should always be accompanied by horizontal
RC bands
• Containment reinforcement is a vertical
reinforcement provided on both faces in a
parallel manner. It may be either on the surface
or hidden in 3.0 cm grooves beneath the surface
• It is generally provided every 1.0m in the
horizontal direction and also next to door and
window jambs
• It is not needed at corners
Performance of brittle masonry to flexure

(a) Un-reinforced (b) core-reinforced (c)Containment

reinforcement
CONTAINMENT REINFORCEMENT
Ideal choice: Stainless steel flats and rods
Containment reinforcement in grooved blocks
• Reinforcement on both faces to be held by ties
going through the wall in alternate courses or
once in 3 courses
• Following materials are possible
 GI wire – 3.0 to 4.0 mm
 Corrosion resistant steel ~ 6.0mm
 Stainless steel – 3.0 to 4.0 mm
 Bamboo
 Timber
• Function is to prevent growth of flexural
cracks
• Experiments show good flexural ductility
 Materials for “Containment Reinforcement”
Reinforcing Remarks
material

Mild Steel rods 6mm rods available, very ductile, liable to corrosion if exposed and hence has to be either
coated with non-corrosive paints or covered with plaster
Alternatively 20-25mm wide, 3mm thick MS flats could also be used, holes could be made
at regular intervals to insert links/bolts to tie the flats provided on both faces of the wall

Galvanized Iron Any dia wire available hence easy for handling, good ductility, can corrode and hence
(GI) wires has to be protected
Alternatively 20-25mm wide, 3mm thick GI flats could be used as mentioned above

Stainless Steel Perfectly suitable for containment reinforcement, 3mm to 4mm wires could be used at
1.0m spacing, no need of coating, plastering etc.

Timber battens Good quality (teak wood, sal wood etc.) reepers of size 50mm x 25 mm could be used at
1.0m spacing, the pair of reepers on either face of the wall could be tied together at two
points at the base and two points at the top by boring a hole and inserting a bolt; surface
has to be painted especially when exposed to wetness; has to be maintained regularly to
prevent rotting; care to be taken to prevent it from catching fire

Bamboo Pairs of bamboo or half bamboos could be used at about 1.0m to 1.5m interval; the poles
could be tied at two points at the base and two points at top by using GI wires; less life;
can catch fire hence has to be protected

Ferrocement Thin ferrocement strips (about 150mm wide) with sufficient amount of reinforcing material
strips such as chicken mesh, expanded metal, weld mesh etc.; can be used at about 1.2m
spacing; the strips have to be bonded to the masonry wall by using grouted hooks.

Aluminum Wires, rods and flats are readily available, durable and has good resistance to corrosion,
however strength and modulus is less and hence large quantity is needed
 Comparison
Contained Masonry Confined concrete
Basic material is URM Basic material is
reinforced concrete

Prevents growth of Prevents brittle failure of

flexural tensile cracks concrete in compression

Ductile behaviour with Ductile behaviour with

lot of cracking but no few cracks inside confined
collapse core
Masonry building with horizontal bands
and Containment reinforcement
Naliyawali Deewal (JHADAWAS, RAPAR Taluk)
Sill, lintel and roof band with vertical containment
reinforcement for Masonry building (Bhuj)
Sill level RC band and vertical
containment reinforcement
Plinth, sill, lintel
and roof bands,
ferro-cement roof
with containment
reinforcement
Horizontal bands in
masonry building improves
resistance to earthquake
51
Performance of buildings with & without band

Building with no Building with horizontal

horizontal lintel band lintel band
Collapse of roof and walls No Collapse

52
Bending and pulling in lintel bands

Cross section of
lintel band

Bands must be capable of resisting the above forces

53
 Horizontal bands in masonry buildings

RC Bands are the BEST

54
 Different type of roofs

Flat Roof

Hipped Roof
55
Earthquake response of a hipped roof building

No vertical reinforcement is provided

56
Earthquake response of a flat roof building

Horizontal sliding
at sill level – No
vertical
reinforcement

Vertical
reinforcement
prevents sliding in
walls
57
 Cracks in corners of masonry buildings

Cracks in building
with no corner
reinforcement

No cracks in building
with vertical reinforcement
and bands
58
Schematic of the wall section

Thick walls that split into two vertical layers

Separation of unconnected
adjacent walls at junctions

59
 Proper bond in stone masonry

Use of through stones or bond

stones in stone masonry walls
prevents wall separation

Horizontal lintel band is essential in

random rubble stone masonry wall
60
 CONCLUSIONS
 Masonry buildings in mud or lime mortar are
prone to severe damage during earthquake due
to poor bond strength.
 Round stones in wythes without through bond
stones can further aggravate the problem.
 The major failure of masonry walls is due to out-
of-plane flexure.
 Use of roof band, lintel band and vertical
reinforcement in corners & junctions of walls as
per IS:13828-1993 appear to improve ductility
and prevent complete collapse of building.
THANK YOU