Uğur Albayrak

Effect of Infill Walls on the Seismic Performance of an Old Building

The effect of the existence of infill walls on the earthquake performance of a structure is one of the main research areas in terms of seismic safety. This study present a performance based approach to the entrenched procedures for seismic design of buildings contained in standards as Turkish Seismic Code. In this manner, an existing 55 years old industrial R.C. building in Eskisehir, Turkey was modelled and performance-based seismic design deal with the verification of seismic performance uttered in terms of limit states defined in Turkish Seismic Code. Three dimensional finite elements modelling of the building was created based on the measurements and observations on site. SAP2000 was utilized to make earthquake analysis of the 3-D numerical model of the building. According to the results from the performance evaluation of entire building; the contribution of the infill walls to the strength and stiffness of entire structure can be easily demonstrated. These results from performance based design procedure indicate that infill walls in this building are the main reason why this insufficient building in terms of earthquake resistance has been survived for many years under effective earthquakes.

PROPERTIES OF ANCIENT STYLE HANDMADE CLAY BRICKS USING BOTTOM ASH

Ancient style handmade bricks are widely used as an infill wall material in masonry and also historical structures in Turkey. Light weight brick production is very important in terms of reducing the dead load of structure subjected to earthquake. Safety and long service life of masonry buildings depends on durability of clay bricks. Handmade bricks were produced with bottom ash on the ratio of 0-40% interval instead of clay. Brick samples were tested under 50 and 100 freeze-thaw cycles. As a result of Freezing-thawing durability test; unit weight loss, ultrasonic pulse velocity loss and compressive strength loss were determined. As a conclusion; mid-strength, lightened handmade bricks can be obtained using bottom ash.