Category: South America

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Report # 175 : Reinforced Clay Brick Masonry Building

by Luis Carlos Hackmayer, Lars Abrahamczyk, Jochen Schwarz

This type of single-story housing is typically built in urban areas around the Country. Nowadays also
multistory buildings up to 10 stories can be found with the same structural system and is generally
used for residential purposes; however this report focuses on single-story buildings. This type of
structure is in general earthquake resistant but the construction process should be somehow improved
in terms of controls and checks. The vertical and horizontal loads are supported by the reinforced
masonry walls. The vertical reinforcement bars are placed in the hollow cores of the clay masonry
units and the horizontal reinforcement bars in between the horizontal bed joints of the units (the
separation depends on the selected energy dissipation capacity).

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Report # 89 : Traditional adobe house without seismic features

by Virginia I. Rodriguez, Maria I. Yacante, Sergio Reiloba

This construction type is used as a single-family house. It is a single-story, detached building, found in the rural and suburban areas of the province of San Juan. This traditional type of construction is built with adobe walls and no cornice. The traditional adobe house has a range of deficiencies: weak connections, heavy roofs, adobe blocks that deteriorate (especially at the base of the walls) due to prolonged exposure to humidity. This housing type is expected to perform poorly in earthquakes.

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Report # 152 : Base Isolation of Confined Masonry

by Noemi Graciela Maldonado, Dr. Miguel Eduardo Tornello

Most of Argentine Republic territory may be considered seismic.Great Mendoza is an important social-economic area in the mid- western region and it has the greatest seismic risk in the country. In the last 200 years or so, there have been important earthquakes affecting building structures. Consequently, new techniques aimed at controlling vulnerability must be developed. Methodology: An investigation of the actual application of Basal Seismic Isolation (BSI) on a building ‘Students’ House’ belonging to the Technological National University (UTN) is implemented. Research of the isolation system for near source motions has been done. The construction of three modules of student houses has been done in 2004, with confined masonry and reinforced concrete for three levels and prestressed slabs. Both buildings have accelerometers to register earthquake effects. The complex is completed with a building of two levels for administration with confined masonry. The aim is to control BSI displacement. The strategy proposed was to add damping to the isolation system within certain limits and the results are compared to similar fixed base building. To control near source displacements, additional damping is an applicable and economic strategy. Although with this strategy there is increased acceleration , it is far less than in the case of fixed base building

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Report # 109 : Concrete Shear Wall Buildings

by Luis G. Mejia, Juan C. Ortiz R., Laura I. Osorio G.

These buildings are characterized mainly by cast-in-place, load-bearing, reinforced-concrete shear walls in both principal directions. The buildings are usually multiple housing units found in the major urban areas of Colombia, especially in the Andean and Caribbean regions. They represent about 2 to 3% of the housing stock in the cities with a population between one to seven million. These buildings typically have 7 to 20 stories, generally with a cast-in-place reinforced-concrete floor slab system. In general, these buildings have good seismic performance because of their regular mass distribution in height and symmetrical plan configuration and the great stiffness and strength of the walls that can restrict story drift to less than or equal to 0.005h. In some cases, if the buildings were constructed after the first Colombian Seismic Code in 1984, poor seismic detailing is found.

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Report # 107 : Reinforced Adobe

by Daniel Quiun

This is a reinforcement system for existing adobe houses, as well as an adaptation for new adobe houses, with the objective to prevent their collapse under severe earthquakes. An extensive experimental research project was developed between 1994 and 1999, with the financial support of GTZ of Germany, the administration of CERESIS, and the execution of the Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). Several reinforcement techniques were studied, and it was concluded that the most appropriate was to reinforce the walls with horizontal and vertical strips of wire mesh electrically welded, covered with mortar. The technique was applied in 1998 as pilot projects in 20 houses in 6 cities in Peru. Later in 1999-2000 it was extended to Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela. We had to wait for an earthquake to assess the effectiveness of the reinforcement. In the earthquake of June 23, 2001 (Mw=8.4), that affected the south of Peru, six reinforced adobe houses had no damage. Neighboring dwellings of unreinforced adobe suffered heavy damage or collapsed. This success motivated several reconstruction programs of new reinforced adobe houses in the Andean zone, in which the technique was improved and applied in more than 500 houses, which are described herein. Shaking table tests on the system used in the new houses at the Structures Laboratory of PUCP demonstrated that the reinforcement provided is effective for resisting severe earthquakes without collapse. The August 15, 2007 Pisco earthquake (Mw8.0), 200 km south of Lima, also provoked the collapse of many traditional adobe houses. In Ica province, 5 houses were reinforced in 1998 using the wire mesh strips, and all withstand the earthquake undamaged.

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Report # 70 : Solid brick masonry house with composite hollow clay tile and concrete joist roof slabs

by Virginia I. Rodriguez, Maria I. Yacante, Sergio Reiloba

This housing type is found in the urban areas of San Juan province. It is a one-story, detached or semi-detached building, mainly used as a single-family house. The strength of this construction type is due to its solid brick walls confined with concrete tie-beams and tie-columns. The roof slabs are of composite concrete and masonry hollow clay tile construction, which form a diaphragm tied to the walls. The deficiency of this type of construction is found in the slabs which suffer serious deterioration due to the effects of humidity. This housing type is expected to have good seismic behavior.

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Report # 67 : Popular, non-engineered urban housing on flat terrain

by Argimiro C. Gandica, Francisco L. Almansa

This is an urban housing construction type found in the Andean states of Venezuela. In some cities, e.g., Merida, this construction accounts for 40% of the total building stock. Typical buildings of this type are two to three stories high. Typically, there are two or three bays in the longitudinal direction (spaced at 3 to 4 m) and four or five bays in the transverse direction (4 to 5 m apart). The main load-bearing system consists of reinforced concrete frame (columns and beams) with hollow clay tile, and masonry-infill walls. The roof structure consists of lightweight roofing (zinc and/or acclimatized galvanized sheets) supported by I-shaped steel beams. The building’s roof level is used as a terrace with a one-meter-high masonry parapet, which serves as a guardrail on the slab perimeter. This is a non-engineered construction, i.e., these buildings are constructed by the owners. Because of the lack of adequate detailing in the longitudinal and transverse steel reinforcement bars, beam-column connections are inadequate and do not provide the continuity required for adequate seismic performance.

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Report # 52 : Adobe house

by Cesar Loaiza F., Marcial Blondet, Gianfranco Ottazzi

This is a traditional construction practice followed for over 200 years. Houses of this type can be found both in urban and rural areas in the coastal and highlands regions of Peru. Walls are made of adobe blocks laid in mud mortar. The roof structure is made of wood; it usually consists of timber beams with timber planks covered with a mud mortar overlay or with clay tiles or metal sheets. Houses of this type are mainly occupied by poor people. This construction is considered to be very vulnerable to earthquake effects.

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Report # 51 : Confined masonry houses

by Cesar Loaiza F., Marcial Blondet

This is the most common single-family housing construction practice followed both in urban and rural areas of Peru in the last 45 years. Confined masonry buildings consist of load-bearing unreinforced masonry walls made of clay brick units, confined by cast-in-place reinforced concrete tie columns and beams. These buildings do not have a complete load path in both horizontal directions required for adequate lateral load resistance. However, in spite of that, typical houses may show a good seismic performance.

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Report # 50 : Confined masonry building

by Cesar Loaiza F., Marcial Blondet

This multifamily housing construction type has been the most commonly used in the urban areas of Peru during the last 35 years. Confined masonry buildings consist of load-bearing unreinforced clay masonry walls confined by cast-in-place reinforced concrete tie columns and beams. Tie columns are cast after the construction of the masonry walls is complete and they are connected to the tie beams. Confined masonry walls have limited shear strength and ductility; however, buildings of this type typically have a good seismic resistance.

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