PRESERVATION OF STONE MASONRY BUILDINGS: BENCHMARKING OF MODELLING APPROACHES FOR SEISMIC ASSESSMENT AND INTERNATIONAL CALL TO ACTION

The current state of the art and knowledge regarding “non-engineered” seismic construction techniques is questioned, in particular for rubble stone masonry. In-depth reviews show that the information in building codes and technical regulations is mostly outdated, contradictory and ambiguous. This raises questions about completeness, as well as the reliability of the knowledge in this field. The current standards for nonengineered seismic techniques are essentially not fit for purpose, so there is a need for renewed insights. This work aims to discuss seismic improvement measures, as well as evaluate modelling approaches for masonry piers in rubble stone buildings. A benchmarking of different modelling approaches, from macro-elements to micromodelling, is being developed in simulating the shear response of representative walls. Calculations so far show that predictions can be significantly different if concerted hypotheses between approaches are not used but are relatively closer as crossvalidation is extended to experimental tests in the literature. The paper ends with an International Call to Action.