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Behavior of Unreinforced and Reinforced Brick infill Wall during Earthquakes in North and North East India using Applied Element Method

A. Dongre and R. Pradeepkumar

Paper No.: 553

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Vol.: 57

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No.: 1

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March, 2020

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pp. 61-77

Abstract

 

In the current year 2020-21, most part of India including North and NE India is recorded with around 100 earthquakes ranging from Magnitude 4 to 6. NE India is the sixth most seismically active zone in the world and falls in Zone 5 in Seismic zonation map of India. People’s life and the property are at stake when an earthquake with high magnitude strikes such a region. Infrastructure plays an essential role in the safety of people residing in these areas. In present time new constructions in this region are mostly, RC Structures with Brick infills. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate Brick infill Seismic Performance in RC Structure and eventually devise countermeasures to reduce the causalities during earthquakes. In this study Numerical Analysis is performed, to understand the behavior of Brick infill in RC Frame before and after strengthing during the earthquake. As a strengthening measure, the response of the wall using Horizontal and Vertical Reinforcement is studied. It is found that a reinforced brick infill wall is capable of giving good strength during an earthquake. This numerical study is performed using Applied Element Method, which helps to simulate Brick infill behavior from initial stage of loading till collapse stage and it does not require presumption of crack location, and it is from discrete elements family. Unreinforced masonry wall shows a maximum response to the seismic loading with maximum visible cracks on the wall. The response of the wall gets reduced with provision of reinforcement in the horizontal and vertical direction.
Keywords: Brick Infill, RC Structure, Applied Element Method, Seismic Performance, Horizontal and Vertical Reinforcement, Strengthening Measures, Cracks, Response

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