Abstract

Unreinforced masonry (URM) is known as sustainable building material and is on the top of worldwide building materials consumed in residential buildings. The reliability level of a designed URM shear walls (URMW) has major influence on safety and cost of masonry constructions. Assessing the reliability level of different URMW is the purpose of this paper.

The verification methods for combination of in-plane shear and compression according to the latest version of German National Annex of Eurocode 6are presented. The design models available in the code are rephrased and direct deterministic equations are introduced to predict the capacity. Limit State and Reliability Verification of URM Wall.

On this base, several limit state are established and reliability analysis using crude Monte Carlo method are run. The effect of uncertainty on assessed reliability is highlighted. The distinction between linear and non-linear application of partial safety factors are assessed. The result of reliability analysis, based on the available probabilistic information on material with uncertainty models for designed URMW is presented in the article.

The principal results are the actual reliability level found in the study regarding various masonry walls designed according to the latest German National Annex code DIN EN 1996-1-1 /NA: 2012-05 on different load situation. A review on the common target reliability index for structures according to different codes is done and the assessed reliability is compared with the target value.

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