Seismic evaluation and rehabilitation of low-rise reinforced masonry buildings with flexible diaphragms

dc.contributor.advisorKlingner, R. E.en
dc.creatorCohen, Gregory L.en
dc.date.accessioned2008-08-28T22:23:19Zen
dc.date.available2008-08-28T22:23:19Zen
dc.date.issued2004en
dc.descriptiontexten
dc.description.abstractIn response to Executive Order 12941 (1994), the United States government initiated a coordinated effort to assess and mitigate the seismic hazards of its existing owned and leased facilities. This study was contracted to enhance that effort for low-rise reinforced masonry buildings with flexible diaphragms. The study involved the development of systematic methodologies for the seismic evaluation and rehabilitation of such buildings. First, the seismic behavior of these types of buildings was characterized. Two, half-scale low-rise reinforced masonry buildings with flexible diaphragms were tested on the US Army Tri-axial Earthquake and Shock Simulator at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory. This testing provided experimental data for analytical modeling, and provided specific technical substantiation for the generally accepted premise that diaphragm flexibility can significantly affect the seismic response of low-rise buildings. Following that testing, diaphragms and attached masonry chords were removed from the shaking-table specimens and subjected to reversed cyclic quasi-static displacements. Observations and conclusions from physical testing were used to develop and validate a simple tool for the analysis of these buildings. The tool was developed in the general case and then analytically bounded for the particular case of low-rise reinforced masonry buildings with flexible diaphragms. It was validated in the linear elastic and nonlinear ranges using data from shaking-table testing, finite-element modeling, and lumped-parameter modeling. Data from previous flexible-diaphragm tests, performed by others, were reevaluated in the context of performance-based engineering and synthesized with the analysis tool into a coherent evaluation methodology intended to supplement the existing methodologies of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Documents 310 and 356. To assess the efficacy of the proposed methodology, four existing buildings were selected from the Ft. Lewis, Washington inventory and evaluated for seismic deficiencies. The buildings were evaluated using procedures of FEMA 310, US Army TI 809-05, and the proposed methodology. Results conclusively demonstrated that the FEMA 310 methodology does not sufficiently characterize the seismic performance of flexible diaphragm systems, and the proposed methodology is simple, effective, and useful. Recommendations are placed in the context of evolutionary updating of the FEMA methodologies, as applied to specific subsets of the national building inventory.
dc.description.departmentCivil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineeringen
dc.format.mediumelectronicen
dc.identifierb60728838en
dc.identifier.oclc67142557en
dc.identifier.proqst3143674en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/1911en
dc.language.isoengen
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.en
dc.subject.lcshBuildings--Earthquake effectsen
dc.subject.lcshEarthquake engineering--Research--United Statesen
dc.subject.lcshMasonryen
dc.subject.lcshDiaphragms (Structural engineering)en
dc.titleSeismic evaluation and rehabilitation of low-rise reinforced masonry buildings with flexible diaphragmsen
dc.type.genreThesisen
thesis.degree.departmentCivil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineeringen
thesis.degree.disciplineCivil Engineeringen
thesis.degree.grantorThe University of Texas at Austinen
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen

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