Report # 41 : Two-story unreinforced brick masonry building with wooden floors

by Svetlana Uranova, Ulugbek T. Begaliev

This is a non-engineered construction practiced in Kyrgyzstan from 1920 to 1957. The load-bearing structure consists of unreinforced brick masonry walls and wooden floor beams. Brick masonry walls are usually constructed of mud mortar. Walls are usually perforated with rather large door and window openings. The wall length between the adjacent cross walls is on the order of 9-10 m. Wooden floor elements (beams) are not tied together and they do not behave as diaphragms. Based on the performance in past earthquakes, this building type is considered to be highly vulnerable to seismic effects.

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