Performance of Masonry Walls during Kaki, Iran, Earthquake of April 9, 2013

Abstract

Failure of masonry walls during the Kaki, Iran, earthquake of April 2013 was the main damage of buildings and a major contributor to the fatalities during that earthquake. The observed damages to different masonry walls in the affected area provided an opportunity to raise awareness about the seismic behavior of this kind of structural element. In this paper, the performance of different masonry walls under the earthquake effects and the effective parameters in this regard are the main concern. For this purpose, several major issues are presented. First, the generally known failure mechanisms of unreinforced masonry walls are tracked among the observed damages. Second, some parameters found to be effective in the seismic performance of masonry walls along with the engineering aspects in their observed failures are discussed. Because different types of masonry walls are present in the region, in the final part, the seismic performance of each type as seen after the earthquake is individually discussed and their points of weakness and strength are highlighted.