SEISMIC RESPONSE OF FULL-SCALE 5-STORY REINFORCED-MASONRY BUILDING

To verify new design guidelines for reinforced-masonry (RM) buildings in seismic zones, a full-scale five-story RM research building was tes ted at the University of California, San Diego, under simulated seismi c loads. These new design guidelines, developed by the Technical Coord inating Committee for Masonry Research (TCCMAR), combine limit state a nd capacity design principles to ensure ductile seismic response. Desi gn and analysis models developed under TCCMAR for individual component s and subassemblages were extended to the complete system to predict t he seismic response of the five-story research building, and full-scal e seismic-simulation test data were used to provide detailed experimen tal response data for model verification. This first U.S. full-scale f ive-story seismic-simulation test under laboratory conditions showed t hat even stiff-structural-wall-type masonry buildings can be designed to exhibit large ductilities under extreme seismic loads by controlled inelastic flexural behavior in predetermined locations, and that anal ysis and design models exist that can predict the overall seismic resp onse of the complete structural system.