Performance of masonry buildings during the 2011 Lorca earthquake

On Wednesday 11th May 2011 at 6:47 pm (local time) a magnitude 5.1 Mw earthquake occurred 6 km northeast of Lorca with a depth of around 2 km. As a consequence of the shallow depth and the small epicentral distance, important damage was produced in several masonry constructions and even led to the collapse of some of them. Pieces of the facades of several buildings fell down onto the sidewalk, being one of the reasons for the killing of a total of 9 people. The objective of this paper is to describe and analyze the failure patterns observed in unreinforced masonry buildings ranging from 3 to 8 floors in height. First, a brief description of the local building practices of masonry buildings is given. Then, the most important failure types of masonry buildings are described and discussed. After that, a more detailed analysis of one particular building is presented.

Performance of buildings with masonry infill walls during the 2011 Lorca earthquake

On Wednesday 11th May 2011 at 6:47 pm (local time) a magnitude 5.1 Mw earthquake occurred 6 km northeast of Lorca with a depth of around 5 km. As a consequence of the shallow depth and the small epicentral distance, important damage was produced in several masonry constructions and even led to the collapse of one of them. Pieces of the facades of several buildings fell down onto the sidewalk, being one of the reasons for the killing of a total of 9 people. The objective of this paper is to describe and analyze the failure patterns observed in reinforced concrete frame buildings with masonry infill walls ranging from 3 to 8 floors in height. Structural as well as non-structural masonry walls suffered important damage that led to redistributions of forces causing in some cases the failure of columns. The importance of the interaction between the structural frames and the infill panels is analyzed by means of non-linear Finite Element Models. The resulting load levels are compared with the member capacities and the changes of the mechanical properties during the seismic event are described and discussed. In the light of the results obtained the observed failure patterns are explained. Some comments are stated concerning the adequacy of the numerical models that are usually used during the design phase for the seismic analysis.

Viaducto perteneciente a la Línea de Alta Velocidad Vitoria - Bilbao - San Sebastián. Tramo: Atxondo - Abadiño, a su paso por Atxondo pk. 0+0,47. Atxondo (Vizcaya).

El presente proyecto tiene como finalidad la construcción del viaducto que permita dar continuidad a la línea de alta velocidad denominada “Y Vasca” (Bilbao-Vitoria-San Sebastián). Más concretamente, se encuadra en el tramo Atxondo-Abadiño, estando ubicado el futuro viaducto a la altura del primer municipio. El objetivo principal del proyecto es realizar un estudio con el suficiente grado de detalle para que nos permita definir, diseñar y justificar la solución completa que mejor se adapte a nuestras necesidades, es decir, que se integre de una forma armónica en la línea de alta velocidad. Se pretende que este proyecto contenga todos los elementos necesarios que permitan la definición y la construcción del viaducto, cumpliendo en particular la adaptación al trazado de la Línea de Alta Velocidad (LAV) en la que se enmarca, y que se ajuste a la normativa vigente.