Seismic performance assessment and upgrade design of a generic Adobe building

Buildings made of adobe (unbaked masonry) material are particularly vulnerable to seismic excitation. The adobe material has typically low compression strength and stiffness with respect to baked masonry blocks. In this paper, generic adobe buildings located in zones of moderate and high seismicity are studied. For comparison, under the same working assumptions, a low-quality Italian masonry building is considered. The in-plane behavior of the considered structures is modeled by applying the equivalent frame approach; whereas, the out of plane behavior is modeled based on the rigid body out-of-plane overturning mechanism. It is observed that for structures the critical mechanism is the overturning. As an upgrade strategy, the use of chains is proposed. In the case of the generic frame located in high seismicity zone, the structure cannot withstand also the required in-plane performance. This was addressed by increasing the connectivity through the use of reinforced mortar. It is also observed that the configuration of the openings in the walls can affect their in-plane resistance.