Ricerc@Sapienza

The seismic sequence which started on August 24th, 2016, caused hundreds of casualties, damage and collapses in four regions of Central Italy (Lazio, Umbria, Abruzzo and Marche). The strongest event, which occurred on October 30th (Mw6.5), was forerun by four earthquakes with magnitude between 5.4 and 6.0. So far, a total of nine events with magnitude greater than or equal to 5.0 have taken place in the affected area. The earthquakes were caused by normal faults, all of them having NW–SE or NNW–SSE strike, approximately along the spine of the Apennine Mountains.

Existing masonry buildings show significant vulnerability to seismic sequences. This topic has so far received limited attention, concentrated on simplified simulations of the global response, governed by in-plane wall behaviour, or on a very detailed representation of monumental buildings. This paper looks at the out-of-plane response of an ordinary-building wall restrained by an elastoplastic tie-rod under Italian seismic sequence conditions. A recently proposed model is extended to account for a flexible interface defined by its compressive strength and stiffness.