Fragility functions for partially-grouted masonry shear walls with bed-joint reinforcement

Abstract

Fragility functions are a key component of performance-based earthquake engineering methodologies. They relate the response of the building, quantified by means of engineering demand parameters (EDPs), with the probability of reaching or exceeding different levels of damage in structural or nonstructural components. This paper develops fragility functions for partially grouted reinforced masonry (PG-RM) shear walls with bed-joint reinforcement using data from 44 and 32 full-scale in-plane cyclic tests conducted on clay brick (CLB) walls and hollow concrete block (HCB) walls, respectively. Fragility functions for two levels of damage are derived for shear-dominated CLB and HCB walls using two different EDPs: the story drift ratio and a force-based normalized shear demand parameter. Fragility data based on story drift ratio has shown that HCB walls present a higher deformation capacity as compared to CLB walls. In addition, the dispersion observed in the fragility functions has indicated that the normalized shear demand parameter is better correlated to the level of damage than the story drift ratio parameter for both types of walls. Finally, a comparison with existing fragility functions developed in a previous study for HCB walls with bond-beams is presented.