BEHAVIOR OF VARIOUS

TYPES OF MASONRY
DURING EARTHQUAKE
Submitted To:
Dr. Shailza Singh
Earthquake:
An earthquake is the perceptible shaking of the surface of the earth, resulting from
the sudden release of energy in the earths crust that creates seismic waves.
Causes Of Earthquake:
Earthquakes can be violent enough to toss people around and destroy whole cities.
The effects of earthquakes include, but are not limited to, the following:
Shaking and ground rupture
Landslides and avalanches
Fires
Soil liquefaction
Tsunami
Floods
Human impacts
Masonry:
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in
and bound together by mortar.
It is generally a highly durable from of construction
The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone,
marble, cast stone and etc.
Masonry Units
Fired bricks, concrete blocks (hollow or solid) and natural stone
are used for the
construction of masonry walls.
Behaviour of Brick Masonry Walls:

Masonry buildings are brittle structures and one of the most vulnerable of the entire
building stock under strong earthquake shaking.
The large number of human fatalities in such constructions during the past
earthquakes in India confirms this.
Thus, it is very important to improve the seismic behaviour of masonry buildings.
A number of earthquake-resistant features can be introduced to achieve this
objective.
Behaviour of Brick Masonry Walls:
The main emphasis is on ensuring that
ground vibrations reach the ground without
causing major damage or collapse.
Of the three components of a masonry
building (roof, wall and foundation) the walls
are most vulnerable to damage caused by
horizontal forces due to earthquake.
A wall topples down easily if pushed
horizontally at the top in a direction
perpendicular to its plane (termed weak
direction), but offers much greater resistance
if pushed along its length (termed strong
direction)
Behaviour of Brick Masonry Walls:
The horizontal vibrations are the most
damaging to normal masonry buildings.
Horizontal inertia force developed at the roof
transfers to the walls acting either in the weak
or in the strong direction.
If all the walls are not tied together like a box,
the walls loaded in their weak direction tend to
topple
To ensure good seismic performance, all walls
must be joined properly to the adjacent walls.
Further, walls also need to be tied to the roof
and foundation to preserve their overall
integrity.
How To Improve Behaviour of Masonry
Walls:
Masonry walls are slender because of their small thickness
compared to their height and length.
A simple way of making these walls behave well during
earthquake shaking is by making them act together as a
box along with the roof at the top and with the foundation at
the bottom.
A number of construction aspects are required to ensure
this box action.
How To Improve Behaviour of Masonry
Walls:
Firstly, connections between the walls should be good.
Secondly, the sizes of door and window openings need to be
kept small. The smaller the openings, the larger is the
resistance offered by the wall.
Thirdly, the tendency of a wall to topple when pushed in the
weak direction can be reduced by limiting its length-to-
thickness and height to-thickness ratios. Design codes specify
limits for these ratios.
A wall that is too tall or too long in comparison to its thickness,
is particularly vulnerable to shaking in its weak direction.
Choice and Quality of Masonry
Materials:
Masonry Units
Fired bricks, concrete blocks (hollow or solid) and natural stone are used for
the construction of masonry walls.
Mortar
The minimum allowable mix is 1 part of cement to 4 parts of sand, or 1 part
cement to1 part of hydrated lime and 5 parts of sand.
Cement-sand mortar with lime is the most suitable. This mortar mix provides
excellent workability for laying bricks, stretches without crumbling at low
earthquake shaking, and bonds well with bricks.
The earthquake response of masonry walls depends on the relative strengths
of brick and mortar. Bricks must be stronger than mortar.
A 10mm thick mortar layer is generally satisfactory from practical and aesthetic
considerations.
Behaviour of stone Masonry Walls:
These walls are constructed with stones placed in a
random manner, and hence do not have the usual
layers (or courses) seen in brick walls.
These uncoursed walls have two exterior vertical
layers (called wythes) of large stones, filled in between
with loose stone rubble and mud mortar.
A typical uncoursed random (UCR) stone masonry
wall is illustrated in many cases, these walls support
heavy roofs (for example, timber roof with thick mud
overlay) masonry dwellings.
Behaviour of stone Masonry Walls:
The main patterns of earthquake damage
include:
bulging/separation of walls in the horizontal
direction into two distinct wythes
separation of walls at corners and T-junctions.
separation of poorly constructed roof from walls,
and eventual collapse of roof, and disintegration
of walls and eventual collapse of the whole
dwelling.
How to make Earthquake-Resistant
Buildings:
Ensure proper wall construction:
The wall thickness should not exceed 450mm.
Round stone boulders should not be used in
the construction. Instead, the stones should be
shaped using chisels and hammers.
Use of mud mortar should be avoided in higher
seismic zones.
Instead, cement-sand mortar should be 1:6 (or
richer) and lime-sand mortar 1:3 (or richer)
should be used.
Ensure proper bond in masonry courses
Stone units should be square dressed with
parallel faces.
Random rubble is not adequate in earthquake
zones.
How to make Earthquake-Resistant
Buildings:
Provide horizontal reinforcing
elements:
The stone masonry dwellings
must have horizontal bands
These bands can be constructed
out of wood or reinforced
concrete, and chosen based on
economy. It is important to
provide at least one band (either
lintel band or roof band) in stone
masonry construction
Control on overall dimensions and
heights
Essential elements for earthquake
safety:
Confined masonry:
This is a construction system where masonry structural walls are surrounded on all
four sides with reinforced concrete.
In order to ensure structural integrity, vertical confining elements should be located
at all corners and recesses of the building, and at all joints and wall intersections.
In addition, they should be placed at both sides of any wall opening whose area
exceeds 2.5 m2
Confined masonry:
Reinforced Hollow Concrete Block
Masonry:
Reinforced hollow concrete blocks are designed both as load-bearing walls for
gravity loads and also as shear walls for lateral seismic loads, to safely
withstand the earthquakes

Each masonry element is vertically reinforced with steel bars and

concrete grouts fill, at regular intervals, through the continuous
vertical cavities of hollow blocks.

In this construction system, structurally, each wall and slab

behaves as a shear wall and a diaphragm respectively, reducing
the vulnerability of disastrous damage to the structure during
natural hazards.

Due to the uniform distribution of reinforcement in both vertical

and horizontal directions, through each masonry element,
increased tensile resistance and ductile behavior of elements.
Traditional Earthquake Resistant
Housing:
Traditional house building techniques have successfully demonstrated, during past
earthquakes in the Himalayan region .
The Pherols of Uttarkashi:
Pherols are old traditionally built multistoried structures found in Uttarkashi district.
The main materials of constructions are stone and wood with mud mortar.
The construction is essentially coarse-rubble masonry type.
Traditional Earthquake Resistant
Housing:
The Dhajji-Diwari buildings of Kashmir:
The most significant aspect of the Dhajji-Diwari
buildings is the combination of the building
materials used.
The basic elements in these buildings are the load
bearing masonry piers and infill walls.
There are wooden tie-bands at each floor level.
Traditional Earthquake Resistant
Housing:
The Dhajji-Diwari buildings of Kashmir:
The foundation consists of rubble masonry with
lime mortar whereas mud mortar is used for the
rest of the structure.
The infill materials are usually abode bricks
bonded with mud mortar
The unreinforced masonry walls have stiffness but
not strength. In the absence of strength, flexibility
is essential for quake resistance
Traditional Earthquake Resistant
Housing:
The Kat-Ki- Kunni Buildings of Kulu Valley:
The Kat-Ki-Kunni or timber cornered buildings
suffered minimal damage in the epicentral tract of
Kulu Valley.
It combines the weight, solidity and coolness of a
stone building with the flexibility and earthquake-
resisting qualities of a wooden one.
Here the wood bonding takes place at vertical
intervals of three to five feet. Two parallel beams
are laid along with layer of masonry, one on the
inside and one on the outside.
At the end of one wall the beams cross them on
the walls at right angle, and the wooden pins hold
the crossing together. Crossties of wood similarly
hold the two parallel beams in position at intervals
along their length.
Traditional Earthquake Resistant
Housing:
Quincha earthquake resistant buildings:
Following a devastating earthquake in the Alto Mayo
region of Peru in 1990 ITDG's Shelter Programme
became involved in a major reconstruction project to
build earthquake resistant housing using 'improved
quincha' - a timber and lattice frame design with an
earth infill - based on traditional technologies.
Traditional quincha building technology results in a
flexible structure with an inherent earthquake
resistance.
Traditional Earthquake Resistant
Housing:
Quincha earthquake resistant buildings:
It has been used in parts of Peru for many centuries.
Traditionally, a quincha house would have a round pole
set directly in the ground; in filled with smaller wooden
poles and interwoven to form a matrix, which is then
plastered with one or more layers of earth.
community organizations in Alto Mayo to introduce
improved, earthquake resistant building technology -
quincha mejorada.
Conclusions:
There is a lack of awareness in the earthquake disaster mitigations. Avoiding non-
engineered structures with unskilled labour even in unimportant temporary
constructions can help a great way.
The builders and constructors should adopt the codal provisions in all the future
construction, as prevention is better than cure. On the light of avoiding the risk, this may
not be an impossible task as earthquake resistant measures in building involves only
2%-6% additional cost depending on the type of building.
Using construction techniques like SIMCON and RHCBM can not only mitigate
earthquake effects but also are cost effective.
THANK YOU