PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A 3-STORY UNREINFORCED MASONRY BUILDING DURING THE 1992 ERZINCAN EARTHQUAKE

Seismic performance of a three-storey unreinforced masonry building wh ich survived the 1992 Erzincan earthquake without damage is evaluated. Mechanical properties of the masonry walls have been determined exper imentally by using identical brick and mortar used in construction. An accurate material model is developed for masonry and employed in a co mputer program for the non-linear dynamic analysis of masonry building s. The analytical results based on measured material properties indica ted that masonry buildings which satisfy basic seismic code requiremen ts possess remarkable lateral strength, stiffness and energy dissipati on capacity. Accordingly, a simple elastic design approach is rendered suitable for unreinforced masonry under seismic excitations, provided that realistic material properties are employed in design.