ADDITION OF CONCRET SHEAR WALLS; A TYPICAL RETROFITTING METHOD FOR MASONRY BUILDINGS

Following the destructive bam earthquake of 2003, the Iranian Government initiated a vast program of seismic retrofitting for existing important buildings throughout the country. Based on the obtained experiences, Seismic vulnerability and rehabilitation studies for each of thousands of existing buildings throughout the country, needs a long-term period of time and would make the project with limited budget, unachievable in the defined period. For this reason some new and typical methods for retrofitting of common type of buildings that would result in higher performance of structures and save the occupant lives in probable future earthquakes. Unreinforced masonry buildings which are widely constructed in urban areas of Iran and in many other countries are the most common type. An advantageous method for retrofitting of this type of construction is “Addition of concrete shear walls”. In this method some concrete shear walls are added to masonry buildings, along with other retrofitting details for the roof, foundation and masonry walls. This article aims to explain the method along with the scientific base, gained experience, details, governing rules and conditions.