KURUSCU, ALI OSMAN1; GÜNEY, DENIZ2; ARUN, GÖRÜN3

1) Dr, Yildiz Technical University, Department of Architecture, aliosmankuruscu@yahoo.com

2) Associate Prof. Dr, Yildiz Technical University, Department of Architecture, deguney@yildiz.edu.tr

3) Prof. Dr, Yildiz Technical University, Department of Architecture, gorun@yildiz.edu.tr

Unreinforced masonry has traditionally been the primary construction method of rural areas in Turkey till 1960s. Though reinforced concrete was introduced late 19th century, the rural houses using brick, adobe, stone and concrete blocks and unskilled labour continued to be constructed. Recent earth-quakes showed that the performance of traditional unreinforced construction were generally poor.

The seismic performance of masonry structures depend on the performance of their walls and the walls play major role on the seismic response of the whole structure for they are the basic resisting elements to horizontal seismic actions. The material used in the wall construction, and configuration of the wall material affects the vulnerability severity level of the building. Site investigations and researches after the earthquakes add to the knowledge on the behavior of masonry buildings and traditional construction methods.

In this paper, the correlation between damage level and physical properties of masonry walls were studied according to data obtained from March 2010 in Elazığ and October 2011 and November 2011 in Van earthquakes. In the region, there are many houses and public buildings constructed with stone, brick, adobe and concrete blocks. Some of them were heavily affected where some had slight damages. The observation of the buildings and assessment of the failures were made by eye inspection and collecting data by photos. The overall data obtained from site has been evaluated according to the parameters playing important role on the performance of the buildings.

Keywords: Masonry walls, vulnerability, seismic performance, damage, earthquake