Currently, the upgrade of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings focuses only on energy retr... more Currently, the upgrade of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings focuses only on energy retrofitting measures due to the current policies promoted in the scope of the European Green Deal. However, the structural deficiencies are not eliminated, leaving the building seriously unsafe despite the investment, particularly in seismic-prone regions. Moreover, the envelopes of existing RC buildings are responsible for their energy efficiency and seismic performance, but these two performance indicators are not usually correlated. They are frequently analyzed independently from each other. Based on this motivation, this research aimed to perform a holistic performance assessment of five different types of masonry infill walls (i.e., two non-strengthened walls, two walls with seismic strengthening, and one wall with energy strengthening). This performance assessment was performed in a three-step procedure: (i) energy performance assessment by analyzing the heat transfer coefficient of e...
The primary objective is to present the most representative types of damage observed in reinforce... more The primary objective is to present the most representative types of damage observed in reinforced concrete (RC) structures due to earthquakes. Those damages are divided according to the ten most representative types. Examples and the main reasons that could trigger each failure mechanism are presented. The definition of these damage types is supported by post-earthquake damage reconnaissance missions in Sichuan (China) in 2008, L’Aquila (Italy) in 2009, Lorca (Spain) in 2011, Emilia-Romagna (Italy) in 2012, Gorkha (Nepal) in 2015, Muisne (Ecuador) in 2016 and Chiapas (Mexico) in 2017. An extensive discussion is presented concerning the infill walls’ seismic behaviour and their interaction with the RC structural elements. The presentation of the significant learnings and findings concerning the typical damage herein presented and discussed are compared with the common Southern European construction practice. The impact of the infill walls on the rehabilitation costs of damaged RC bu...
On April 25 a devastating 7.8 Mw shallow earthquake struck Nepal, causing over 9000 deaths and al... more On April 25 a devastating 7.8 Mw shallow earthquake struck Nepal, causing over 9000 deaths and almost 23000 injuries. More than 400 aftershocks, with magnitude larger higher than 4.0Mw, occurred in the following two months. The earthquake and the aftershocks caused a significant number of damaged and collapsed buildings. In this context the present manuscript pretends to be an overview of the buildings damages observed over the course of 10-days reconnaissance trip that took place 2 months after the earthquake. A general summary of the tectonic region and seismicity characteristics will be provided as well as the reinforced concrete (RC) buildings will be characterized in terms of typologies, and more detailing aspects, with and overview of the constructive practices adopted in Nepal and of the current standards and codes. The structural performance of the RC buildings during the seismic events, particularly the influence of the masonry infill walls in the structural response will b...
Important investments have been made worldwide in the modernization and construction of railway l... more Important investments have been made worldwide in the modernization and construction of railway lines. Plans for new constructions have also been laid out. Recently, precast concrete has been widely employed in the construction of railway bridges and viaducts. Several precast solutions have been applied, namely: I-shaped or U-shaped precast girders and uni-cellular or bi-cellular precast box girders. Regarding the structural scheme in the longitudinal direction, either simple span or continuous decks have been used. In this context, this work aims to contribute to the knowledge about the real performance of these structures through the development of a laboratory tests setup, for the study of this type of structure, focusing on the connection between the precast beams. The setup will be implemented at the Laboratory of Earthquake and Structural Engineering (LESE), several experimental campaigns on the cyclic behaviour of reinforced concrete elements have been carried out.
The primary objective is to present the most representative types of damage observed in reinforce... more The primary objective is to present the most representative types of damage observed in reinforced concrete (RC) structures due to earthquakes. Those damages are divided according to the ten most representative types. Examples and the main reasons that could trigger each failure mechanism are presented. The definition of these damage types is supported by post-earthquake damage reconnaissance missions in Sichuan (China) in 2008, L’Aquila (Italy) in 2009, Lorca (Spain) in 2011, Emilia-Romagna (Italy) in 2012, Gorkha (Nepal) in 2015, Muisne (Ecuador) in 2016 and Chiapas (Mexico) in 2017. An extensive discussion is presented concerning the infill walls’ seismic behaviour and their interaction with the RC structural elements. The presentation of the significant learnings and findings concerning the typical damage herein presented and discussed are compared with the common Southern European construction practice. The impact of the infill walls on the rehabilitation costs of damaged RC bu...
Masonry façades are known to behave poorly under se ismic actions being one of the main goals of ... more Masonry façades are known to behave poorly under se ismic actions being one of the main goals of worldwide research to simulate adequately the dynamic behaviour of these elements. The simulation of masonry façades as rigid bodies w ith dynamic characteristics is one of the possible solutions to assess the dynamic behaviour of existing structures. Taking this into account, an experimental test procedure is presente d to assess one main parameter (coefficient of restitution) that influences the global response of a rocking system. The test procedure is fully described concerning th e experimental test apparatus and monitoring devices, as well as the obtained experim ntal results and their correlation to theoretical values. Finally, some conclusions are d rawn regarding the efficiency of the test procedure and the obtained values for the coefficie nt of restitution.
The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the cyclic behavior of RC hollow piers, with and ... more The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the cyclic behavior of RC hollow piers, with and without with CFRP retrofit, by comparison of experimental tests results with structural numerical modeling. The retrofit techniques aim to increase the shear strength and the ductility capacity through the establishment of principles and strategies applied in an experimental cyclic campaign of RC hollow piers, carried out in the Laboratory for Earthquake and Structural Engineering (LESE) of the Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto (FEUP). The evaluation and calibration of the efficiency of several retrofit solutions is also performed. The numerical simulations are carried out using two different methodologies: (i) fiber model and (ii) damage model. The fiber models based in a finite element discretiztion with non-linear behavior distributed along the elements length and cross-sectional area, while the damage model is supported on refined finite element (FE) meshes, with high com...
Over the last years, there has been increasing interest on experimental testing to support better... more Over the last years, there has been increasing interest on experimental testing to support better understanding of structural behaviour under earthquake loading, with emphasis on numerical model calibration, development of efficient techniques for seismic protection and/or resilience improvement of structures. A significant number of experimental studies have been carried out during the last years concerning to the characterization of the columns (reinforced concrete or steel) behaviour when subjected to cyclic loadings. However, the experimental tests of columns under cyclic uniaxial and biaxial bending is one of the hardest and complex to reproduce in laboratory, since this tests should contemplate current actions simultaneous simultaneously. There is many column test models proposed by different authors, differing in aspects such as the fixation of the specimens, the application of the horizontal or of the axial load and in the measurement of the displacements and the extensions....
Abstract. The main purposes of this work it to present an experimental campaign of different stre... more Abstract. The main purposes of this work it to present an experimental campaign of different strengthening strategies of RC columns, and evaluating benefits concerning their structural behaviour cyclic loading. 9 RC columns were tested, two of them original and the rest composed by strengthened columns by CFRP and steel plates jacketing. The aim is, therefore, to contribute for developing and calibration a procedure that enables the evaluation of the efficiency of the strengthening strategies, their possibilities and application. It was also an objective of this work to explore the possibility of use this techniques on the improvement of existing buildings performance
The study of stone masonry buildings is a topic of great concern among the scientific community. ... more The study of stone masonry buildings is a topic of great concern among the scientific community. This concern comes mainly from the need and interest in preserving the large number of constructions of this type existing all over the world. These buildings are characterized by a heterogeneous composition of materials, often with irregular shapes (mainly stones and mortar for the walls and timber for the roof and floors) and complex links and interactions, which make difficult the understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the global construction. Also for this, the definition of a law and numerical models capable of reproducing the real behaviour of these structures still represents a big challenge. In this context, the present work aims contributing for a better knowledge on the mechanical behaviour of one leaf stone masonry walls, a typology found in many old constructions in Portugal. The study will focus on the walls of a building from the beginning of the XX century at Porto, ...
The work presented in this article describes a perf ormed shaking table test which was fully orie... more The work presented in this article describes a perf ormed shaking table test which was fully oriented to assess the out-of-plane behaviour of a stone masonry building. The tested building, constituted by three leaf stone masonry w alls, represents part of an existing structure from Faial island (Azores, Portugal) which was dama ged during the 1998 Azores earthquake. All the testing procedure is described, namely the tested building and used monitoring devices, as well as the selection of the input grou nd motion used on the shaking table test. Finally, some conclusions are presented regarding t he obtained results and observed behaviour with some recommendations for seismic ass essment of similar structures.
This paper presents part of the work developed for the seismic behavior study of an ancient struc... more This paper presents part of the work developed for the seismic behavior study of an ancient structure, over 400 years old. The church structure was numerically modeled via the finite element method, using a three dimensional model with parameters calibrated by experimental testing. In situ and laboratory tests on extracted samples were performed, and dynamic tests were carried out for modal identification and structural stiffness calibration. The seismic analysis was performed in two calculation phases, under the action of artificially generated accelerograms representative of the local seismicity. Results of linear elastic dynamic calculations allowed the global behavior to be analyzed and provided the input for more detailed local analyses of structural parts where the non-linear behavior was considered. Finally, the seismic vulnerability of the structure is briefly addressed and discussed.
Com vista a colmatar a escassez de informacao acerca do comportamento e propriedades mecânicasdas... more Com vista a colmatar a escassez de informacao acerca do comportamento e propriedades mecânicasdas construcoes em alvenaria de adobe existentes na regiao de Aveiro, tem-se vindo a realizar variascampanhas experimentais. Procurando identificar aspectos tais como a rigidez, a capacidaderesistente, a dissipacao de energia e os mecanismos de colapso, essas campanhas tem incluidolevantamentos dimensionais, estudos da composicao granulometrica dos diferentes adobes daregiao, ensaios de caracterizacao do comportamento mecânico deste material (em traccao ecompressao), ensaios ciclicos quase-estaticos em alvenaria (fora do plano e no plano), ensaios decaracterizacao dinâmica, etc.Neste artigo apresentam-se os principais resultados de um ensaio ciclico quase-estatico para fora doplano, complementado com ensaios dinâmicos realizados sobre paredes de alvenaria de adobe deuma construcao existente. Procura-se assim contribuir para uma melhor caracterizacao dasconstrucoes ja edificadas, tendo em vi...
The structural behaviour of stone masonry bridges still persists a challenging and pertinent topi... more The structural behaviour of stone masonry bridges still persists a challenging and pertinent topic of research, although it typically refers to old structures. The very fact that a large number of such constructions exist, in Portugal as in many other countries, under service conditions for which they were not designed, increases the problem relevance (Costa, 2002). The need of improved knowledge based on the actual behaviour of real structures becomes even more stringent if one bears in mind that some of such constructions exhibit clear signs of degradation and lack of maintenance that, quite often, suggest serious doubts on the safety level they can ensure under service conditions.
The seismic performance of the infill masonry (IM) walls is characterized by the interaction with... more The seismic performance of the infill masonry (IM) walls is characterized by the interaction with the surrounding reinforced concrete (RC) frames, which can result in different failure modes depending on their in-plane and out-of-plane behaviour. It is known that the out-of-plane capacity of the IM walls is conditioned by the existence of previous in-plane damage that could decrease significantly their strength and stiffness, as well as the reduced support-width on RC beams and/or slabs adopted to minimize thermal bridges effect, or the absence of connection between the infill panel and the surrounding RC frame can result in a poor out-of-plane performance. However, in the literature the number of experimental studies regarding to IM walls subjected to out-of-plane loadings, combined or not with in-plane damage is reduced. For this an experimental testing campaign of full scale IM walls was started at the Laboratory of Earthquake and Structural Engineering – LESE by performing three...
Forts, including in this designation military castles, present high complexity due to their natur... more Forts, including in this designation military castles, present high complexity due to their nature. Methodologies followed in the rehabilitation of forts are briefly presented, with the emphasis on characterization of materials and rock masses and on tests and numerical models developed for ancient forts. Studies concerning forts with Portuguese legacy are presented. The first case is related with rehabilitation of foundations and walls of the Guimarães Castle, Portugal. The causes of the appearance of holes or torn threads in the exposed face of the wall and the tower of the extreme southwest of the castle were assessed. The intervention performed was focused on the stabilization of the rock mass and careful sealing of discontinuities in the high strength rock mass and consolidation of the most weathered fractured rock mass. The second case is related to forts existing at Muscat, Oman. The protection of the Jalali Fort is studied in detail. During 2007, cyclone Gonu caused substant...
Reinforced concrete hollow piers have a seismic behavior similar to the one observed in structura... more Reinforced concrete hollow piers have a seismic behavior similar to the one observed in structural walls, where the damage pattern and failure modes can be associated with both bending and shear mechanisms. On that context, the definition of expected physical damages is not straightforward and, thus, considering a single parameter that is able to predict these trends is also a complex task. To this extent, the present work aims to establish a strategy to identify the seismic limit states of damage in RC hollow piers and to define a set of engineering demand parameters that are able to set up the damage thresholds. For this purpose, several experimental tests conducted at LESE (Laboratory of Earthquake and Structural Engineering) from FEUP (Faculty of Engineering of Porto University) regarding reduced scale specimens with cyclic behavior were analyzed, where the damage pattern observation is assessed and corresponding response parameters (EDP) estimated.
8SUMMARY The main purpose of this paper is to present an experimental campaign of different strat... more 8SUMMARY The main purpose of this paper is to present an experimental campaign of different strategies for the seismic retrofit of RC columns, comparing the obtained results with analytical methodologies, and evaluating benefits concerning their structural behaviour under the cyclic loading. The experimental campaign was conceived taking into account the typical constructions of the seventies, designed according to old codes without seismic considerations, and seeking the best structural retrofit technique to enable seismic behaviour improvement with acceptable financial resources. The setup of the RC columns experimental tests was specially designed to carry out biaxial bending with axial load, using two orthogonal and horizontal actuators and one vertical actuator (with a slide device to allow the top displacements of the column), though, at this stage, only uni-axial bending experimental results are available. The columns rehabilitation, improving the ductility or the strength ch...
Currently, the upgrade of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings focuses only on energy retr... more Currently, the upgrade of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings focuses only on energy retrofitting measures due to the current policies promoted in the scope of the European Green Deal. However, the structural deficiencies are not eliminated, leaving the building seriously unsafe despite the investment, particularly in seismic-prone regions. Moreover, the envelopes of existing RC buildings are responsible for their energy efficiency and seismic performance, but these two performance indicators are not usually correlated. They are frequently analyzed independently from each other. Based on this motivation, this research aimed to perform a holistic performance assessment of five different types of masonry infill walls (i.e., two non-strengthened walls, two walls with seismic strengthening, and one wall with energy strengthening). This performance assessment was performed in a three-step procedure: (i) energy performance assessment by analyzing the heat transfer coefficient of e...
The primary objective is to present the most representative types of damage observed in reinforce... more The primary objective is to present the most representative types of damage observed in reinforced concrete (RC) structures due to earthquakes. Those damages are divided according to the ten most representative types. Examples and the main reasons that could trigger each failure mechanism are presented. The definition of these damage types is supported by post-earthquake damage reconnaissance missions in Sichuan (China) in 2008, L’Aquila (Italy) in 2009, Lorca (Spain) in 2011, Emilia-Romagna (Italy) in 2012, Gorkha (Nepal) in 2015, Muisne (Ecuador) in 2016 and Chiapas (Mexico) in 2017. An extensive discussion is presented concerning the infill walls’ seismic behaviour and their interaction with the RC structural elements. The presentation of the significant learnings and findings concerning the typical damage herein presented and discussed are compared with the common Southern European construction practice. The impact of the infill walls on the rehabilitation costs of damaged RC bu...
On April 25 a devastating 7.8 Mw shallow earthquake struck Nepal, causing over 9000 deaths and al... more On April 25 a devastating 7.8 Mw shallow earthquake struck Nepal, causing over 9000 deaths and almost 23000 injuries. More than 400 aftershocks, with magnitude larger higher than 4.0Mw, occurred in the following two months. The earthquake and the aftershocks caused a significant number of damaged and collapsed buildings. In this context the present manuscript pretends to be an overview of the buildings damages observed over the course of 10-days reconnaissance trip that took place 2 months after the earthquake. A general summary of the tectonic region and seismicity characteristics will be provided as well as the reinforced concrete (RC) buildings will be characterized in terms of typologies, and more detailing aspects, with and overview of the constructive practices adopted in Nepal and of the current standards and codes. The structural performance of the RC buildings during the seismic events, particularly the influence of the masonry infill walls in the structural response will b...
Important investments have been made worldwide in the modernization and construction of railway l... more Important investments have been made worldwide in the modernization and construction of railway lines. Plans for new constructions have also been laid out. Recently, precast concrete has been widely employed in the construction of railway bridges and viaducts. Several precast solutions have been applied, namely: I-shaped or U-shaped precast girders and uni-cellular or bi-cellular precast box girders. Regarding the structural scheme in the longitudinal direction, either simple span or continuous decks have been used. In this context, this work aims to contribute to the knowledge about the real performance of these structures through the development of a laboratory tests setup, for the study of this type of structure, focusing on the connection between the precast beams. The setup will be implemented at the Laboratory of Earthquake and Structural Engineering (LESE), several experimental campaigns on the cyclic behaviour of reinforced concrete elements have been carried out.
The primary objective is to present the most representative types of damage observed in reinforce... more The primary objective is to present the most representative types of damage observed in reinforced concrete (RC) structures due to earthquakes. Those damages are divided according to the ten most representative types. Examples and the main reasons that could trigger each failure mechanism are presented. The definition of these damage types is supported by post-earthquake damage reconnaissance missions in Sichuan (China) in 2008, L’Aquila (Italy) in 2009, Lorca (Spain) in 2011, Emilia-Romagna (Italy) in 2012, Gorkha (Nepal) in 2015, Muisne (Ecuador) in 2016 and Chiapas (Mexico) in 2017. An extensive discussion is presented concerning the infill walls’ seismic behaviour and their interaction with the RC structural elements. The presentation of the significant learnings and findings concerning the typical damage herein presented and discussed are compared with the common Southern European construction practice. The impact of the infill walls on the rehabilitation costs of damaged RC bu...
Masonry façades are known to behave poorly under se ismic actions being one of the main goals of ... more Masonry façades are known to behave poorly under se ismic actions being one of the main goals of worldwide research to simulate adequately the dynamic behaviour of these elements. The simulation of masonry façades as rigid bodies w ith dynamic characteristics is one of the possible solutions to assess the dynamic behaviour of existing structures. Taking this into account, an experimental test procedure is presente d to assess one main parameter (coefficient of restitution) that influences the global response of a rocking system. The test procedure is fully described concerning th e experimental test apparatus and monitoring devices, as well as the obtained experim ntal results and their correlation to theoretical values. Finally, some conclusions are d rawn regarding the efficiency of the test procedure and the obtained values for the coefficie nt of restitution.
The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the cyclic behavior of RC hollow piers, with and ... more The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the cyclic behavior of RC hollow piers, with and without with CFRP retrofit, by comparison of experimental tests results with structural numerical modeling. The retrofit techniques aim to increase the shear strength and the ductility capacity through the establishment of principles and strategies applied in an experimental cyclic campaign of RC hollow piers, carried out in the Laboratory for Earthquake and Structural Engineering (LESE) of the Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto (FEUP). The evaluation and calibration of the efficiency of several retrofit solutions is also performed. The numerical simulations are carried out using two different methodologies: (i) fiber model and (ii) damage model. The fiber models based in a finite element discretiztion with non-linear behavior distributed along the elements length and cross-sectional area, while the damage model is supported on refined finite element (FE) meshes, with high com...
Over the last years, there has been increasing interest on experimental testing to support better... more Over the last years, there has been increasing interest on experimental testing to support better understanding of structural behaviour under earthquake loading, with emphasis on numerical model calibration, development of efficient techniques for seismic protection and/or resilience improvement of structures. A significant number of experimental studies have been carried out during the last years concerning to the characterization of the columns (reinforced concrete or steel) behaviour when subjected to cyclic loadings. However, the experimental tests of columns under cyclic uniaxial and biaxial bending is one of the hardest and complex to reproduce in laboratory, since this tests should contemplate current actions simultaneous simultaneously. There is many column test models proposed by different authors, differing in aspects such as the fixation of the specimens, the application of the horizontal or of the axial load and in the measurement of the displacements and the extensions....
Abstract. The main purposes of this work it to present an experimental campaign of different stre... more Abstract. The main purposes of this work it to present an experimental campaign of different strengthening strategies of RC columns, and evaluating benefits concerning their structural behaviour cyclic loading. 9 RC columns were tested, two of them original and the rest composed by strengthened columns by CFRP and steel plates jacketing. The aim is, therefore, to contribute for developing and calibration a procedure that enables the evaluation of the efficiency of the strengthening strategies, their possibilities and application. It was also an objective of this work to explore the possibility of use this techniques on the improvement of existing buildings performance
The study of stone masonry buildings is a topic of great concern among the scientific community. ... more The study of stone masonry buildings is a topic of great concern among the scientific community. This concern comes mainly from the need and interest in preserving the large number of constructions of this type existing all over the world. These buildings are characterized by a heterogeneous composition of materials, often with irregular shapes (mainly stones and mortar for the walls and timber for the roof and floors) and complex links and interactions, which make difficult the understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the global construction. Also for this, the definition of a law and numerical models capable of reproducing the real behaviour of these structures still represents a big challenge. In this context, the present work aims contributing for a better knowledge on the mechanical behaviour of one leaf stone masonry walls, a typology found in many old constructions in Portugal. The study will focus on the walls of a building from the beginning of the XX century at Porto, ...
The work presented in this article describes a perf ormed shaking table test which was fully orie... more The work presented in this article describes a perf ormed shaking table test which was fully oriented to assess the out-of-plane behaviour of a stone masonry building. The tested building, constituted by three leaf stone masonry w alls, represents part of an existing structure from Faial island (Azores, Portugal) which was dama ged during the 1998 Azores earthquake. All the testing procedure is described, namely the tested building and used monitoring devices, as well as the selection of the input grou nd motion used on the shaking table test. Finally, some conclusions are presented regarding t he obtained results and observed behaviour with some recommendations for seismic ass essment of similar structures.
This paper presents part of the work developed for the seismic behavior study of an ancient struc... more This paper presents part of the work developed for the seismic behavior study of an ancient structure, over 400 years old. The church structure was numerically modeled via the finite element method, using a three dimensional model with parameters calibrated by experimental testing. In situ and laboratory tests on extracted samples were performed, and dynamic tests were carried out for modal identification and structural stiffness calibration. The seismic analysis was performed in two calculation phases, under the action of artificially generated accelerograms representative of the local seismicity. Results of linear elastic dynamic calculations allowed the global behavior to be analyzed and provided the input for more detailed local analyses of structural parts where the non-linear behavior was considered. Finally, the seismic vulnerability of the structure is briefly addressed and discussed.
Com vista a colmatar a escassez de informacao acerca do comportamento e propriedades mecânicasdas... more Com vista a colmatar a escassez de informacao acerca do comportamento e propriedades mecânicasdas construcoes em alvenaria de adobe existentes na regiao de Aveiro, tem-se vindo a realizar variascampanhas experimentais. Procurando identificar aspectos tais como a rigidez, a capacidaderesistente, a dissipacao de energia e os mecanismos de colapso, essas campanhas tem incluidolevantamentos dimensionais, estudos da composicao granulometrica dos diferentes adobes daregiao, ensaios de caracterizacao do comportamento mecânico deste material (em traccao ecompressao), ensaios ciclicos quase-estaticos em alvenaria (fora do plano e no plano), ensaios decaracterizacao dinâmica, etc.Neste artigo apresentam-se os principais resultados de um ensaio ciclico quase-estatico para fora doplano, complementado com ensaios dinâmicos realizados sobre paredes de alvenaria de adobe deuma construcao existente. Procura-se assim contribuir para uma melhor caracterizacao dasconstrucoes ja edificadas, tendo em vi...
The structural behaviour of stone masonry bridges still persists a challenging and pertinent topi... more The structural behaviour of stone masonry bridges still persists a challenging and pertinent topic of research, although it typically refers to old structures. The very fact that a large number of such constructions exist, in Portugal as in many other countries, under service conditions for which they were not designed, increases the problem relevance (Costa, 2002). The need of improved knowledge based on the actual behaviour of real structures becomes even more stringent if one bears in mind that some of such constructions exhibit clear signs of degradation and lack of maintenance that, quite often, suggest serious doubts on the safety level they can ensure under service conditions.
The seismic performance of the infill masonry (IM) walls is characterized by the interaction with... more The seismic performance of the infill masonry (IM) walls is characterized by the interaction with the surrounding reinforced concrete (RC) frames, which can result in different failure modes depending on their in-plane and out-of-plane behaviour. It is known that the out-of-plane capacity of the IM walls is conditioned by the existence of previous in-plane damage that could decrease significantly their strength and stiffness, as well as the reduced support-width on RC beams and/or slabs adopted to minimize thermal bridges effect, or the absence of connection between the infill panel and the surrounding RC frame can result in a poor out-of-plane performance. However, in the literature the number of experimental studies regarding to IM walls subjected to out-of-plane loadings, combined or not with in-plane damage is reduced. For this an experimental testing campaign of full scale IM walls was started at the Laboratory of Earthquake and Structural Engineering – LESE by performing three...
Forts, including in this designation military castles, present high complexity due to their natur... more Forts, including in this designation military castles, present high complexity due to their nature. Methodologies followed in the rehabilitation of forts are briefly presented, with the emphasis on characterization of materials and rock masses and on tests and numerical models developed for ancient forts. Studies concerning forts with Portuguese legacy are presented. The first case is related with rehabilitation of foundations and walls of the Guimarães Castle, Portugal. The causes of the appearance of holes or torn threads in the exposed face of the wall and the tower of the extreme southwest of the castle were assessed. The intervention performed was focused on the stabilization of the rock mass and careful sealing of discontinuities in the high strength rock mass and consolidation of the most weathered fractured rock mass. The second case is related to forts existing at Muscat, Oman. The protection of the Jalali Fort is studied in detail. During 2007, cyclone Gonu caused substant...
Reinforced concrete hollow piers have a seismic behavior similar to the one observed in structura... more Reinforced concrete hollow piers have a seismic behavior similar to the one observed in structural walls, where the damage pattern and failure modes can be associated with both bending and shear mechanisms. On that context, the definition of expected physical damages is not straightforward and, thus, considering a single parameter that is able to predict these trends is also a complex task. To this extent, the present work aims to establish a strategy to identify the seismic limit states of damage in RC hollow piers and to define a set of engineering demand parameters that are able to set up the damage thresholds. For this purpose, several experimental tests conducted at LESE (Laboratory of Earthquake and Structural Engineering) from FEUP (Faculty of Engineering of Porto University) regarding reduced scale specimens with cyclic behavior were analyzed, where the damage pattern observation is assessed and corresponding response parameters (EDP) estimated.
8SUMMARY The main purpose of this paper is to present an experimental campaign of different strat... more 8SUMMARY The main purpose of this paper is to present an experimental campaign of different strategies for the seismic retrofit of RC columns, comparing the obtained results with analytical methodologies, and evaluating benefits concerning their structural behaviour under the cyclic loading. The experimental campaign was conceived taking into account the typical constructions of the seventies, designed according to old codes without seismic considerations, and seeking the best structural retrofit technique to enable seismic behaviour improvement with acceptable financial resources. The setup of the RC columns experimental tests was specially designed to carry out biaxial bending with axial load, using two orthogonal and horizontal actuators and one vertical actuator (with a slide device to allow the top displacements of the column), though, at this stage, only uni-axial bending experimental results are available. The columns rehabilitation, improving the ductility or the strength ch...
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