STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY ANALYSIS FOR MASONRY BUILDINGS

The purpose of this paper is to outline the start of the development of a Dynamic Structural Reliability Model for masonry structures, although the system can be applied to a wide range of structural systems. The paper addresses the issue of the existing extent of information for the different elements of the model and considers the development of the research required to assure a uniform reliability level for each structure. A uniform reliability level provides an ethical sound method of assessment of the relative safety of the structure. Italy has been used in this paper as the loading example, which is required for all Structural Reliability Models. Italy has a long-recorded written history, which details the history of Italian earthquakes, stretching back millennia. In the central regions of Italy, such as the L’Aquila area, earthquakes are common when compared to other long settled locations, say London. Three earthquakes in the last century, in this Abruzzo Region, resulted in a significant loss of life and economic losses in terms of infrastructure. Aside from the common feature of relatively high death tolls for these earthquakes, the region has a high percentage of two storey masonry dwellings, which impact the fatality rates, due to the high collapse rates of these buildings. Masonry dwellings are dangerous in earthquakes due to the brittle nature of the walls and the connection between the walls and floor or roof. Structural reliability analysis of these masonry structures is a long-term research problem that has been aided by the development of sensitive MEMS based accelerometers, such as the Sensr CX1. A simple standard portal frame example is used to illustrate the procedures