Traditional high-rise unreinforced masonry buildings: modeling and influence of floor system stiffening on their overall seismic response

Abstract

This paper summarizes a study whose primary objectives were to develop a model for nonlinear static analysis of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings, considering the flexibility of the floor system and analyzing the influence of stiffening the floor system on the overall seismic response of such buildings. With this aim, a six-story building typical of the Eixample-Barcelona district was used as a case study. All the macro-elements, those that constitute the walls and the floor system, were developed with one-dimensional spring elements. The influence of stiffening the floor system was analyzed by applying conventional stiffening interventions to the two-floor systems common in the Eixample-Barcelona district. The overall seismic response was evaluated in terms of modal parameters, the characteristics of the pushover curves and the deformed shape of the floors. The outcomes are discussed in relation to recent studies and explained in the context of previous studies. Finally, in the two unstiffened cases of the prototype building, the stiffening of the floor system slightly increases in fundamental periods, slightly to moderately increases in base shear capacities, and significantly decreases in displacement capacities.