Seismic protection of unreinforced masonry buildings by means of low cost elastomeric isolation systems

Ahmad Basshofi Habieb*, Gabriele Milani, Tavio Tavio, Federico Milani

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Thousands of rural houses in developing countries with high seismicity were built without adequate seismic protection due to economical reason. This paper discusses a possibility to improve the seismic protection of typical unreinforced masonry in developing regions using low cost base isolation devices. The proposed isolation system involves fibre reinforced elastomeric isolators (FREIs) having small dimensions and few layers of rubber pads to reduce the fabrication cost. A series of 3D FE simulations are carried out to investigate the performances of the proposed FREIs utilised in the isolation of a one story masonry house prototype. The model is assumed subjected to several accelerograms to have an insight into the sensitivity of the isolation system against different earthquakes. The results reveal that the proposed low cost FREI system provides significant damage mitigation to the masonry house with good applicability of the FREI devices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)127-140
Number of pages14
JournalInternational Journal of Masonry Research and Innovation
Volume6
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Advanced FE modelling
  • Low cost seismic isolation
  • Masonry housing
  • Nonlinear dynamic analyses
  • Rubber isolators

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