Investigation on seismic retrofitting behavior of unreinforced masonry buildings by sliding isolation system

Base isolation through reducing transmitted acceleration into superstructure is a useful method for retrofitting masonry buildings, since decoupling would only disturb building at isolation level. In this study professional finite element code is employed for analytical study where nonlinear behavior of masonry units (mortar and brick) is considered by equivalent modeling. Efficiency of sliding isolation system is investigated by nonlinear time history analysis. Seismic performance of isolated masonry building is evaluated and effects of different parameters are studied. Adequacy of sliding isolation for retrofitting unreinforced masonry building is demonstrated.

Keywords:

retrofitting , unreinforced masonry , sliding isolation , nonlinear time history