Nonlinear static analysis of the behavior of an existing masonry building under seismic action

In the territory of Herzegovina there is a large number of masonry buildings, the age of which exceeds 50 years. These are mostly smaller buildings, with one to two floors, while the load-bearing walls are mainly made of cut stone in lime mortar. Larger buildings with load-bearing walls made of bricks and concrete blocks in cement-lime mortar appeared a little later. The floor structures mainly consist of timber oak beams, supported by loadbearing walls, with boarding on the upper side and plaster, on reed netting, on the lower side. Such structures are exceptionally sensitive to seismic action, and almost certainly could not withstand the design seismic load without significant damage and collapse. A nonlinear static analysis of the structure of one such building was performed in this paper. A check of the existing condition was performed in the first analysis, and a check of the partially strengthened structure in the second. It is evident from the analysis that such strengthening significantly improves the bearing capacity, while the increase in deformability (ductility) is significantly smaller due to the very high stiffness of such structures.