Dr. Svetlana Brzev
University of British Columbia
Special Session on Retrofit of Masonry
Structures
Confined Masonry: Seismic Retrofitting
and New Construction of School
Buildings
Dr. Svetlana Brzev
Department of Civil Engineering
British Columbia Institute of Technology
Vancouver, Canada
Prof. Roberto Meli
Instituto de Ingeneria, UNAM, Mexico
Confined Masonry: Beginnings
 Evolved though an informal process based on its satisfactory
performance in past earthquakes
 The first reported use in the reconstruction after the 1908 Messina,
Italy earthquake (M 7.2) - death toll 70,000
 Practiced in Chile and Columbia since 1930’s and in Mexico since
1940’s
Currently practiced in several countries/regions with high
seismic risk, including Latin America, Mediterranean Europe,
Middle East (Iran), South Asia (Indonesia), and the Far East
(China).
Components of a Confined Masonry Building
Confined Masonry and School Buildings
Suitable for low-rise buildings (most school
buildings in Iran single-storey buildings)
Suitable for building plans with smaller
room sizes (4-6 m) – schools in rural areas
and smaller towns
Construction does not need advanced
construction skills - it is expected that
construction skills in rural areas are limited
Confined Masonry Construction: Performance
in Recent Earthquakes
January 2010, Haiti
February 2010, Chile
M 7.0
M 8.8 521 deaths
300,000 deaths
(10 due to confined masonry
6
construction)
Performance of Confined Masonry in
Iranian Earthquakes
Source: URM Buildings and Earthquake, State Organization of
Schools Renovation, Development and Mobilization, Iran, 2009
Performance of Confined Masonry in
Iranian Earthquakes - Observations
Key deficiencies:
 Poor quality of construction (especially concrete)
 Inadequate detailing of RC confining elements and
their connections
 Code provisions not followed
 Inadequate construction supervision ?
 Inadequate construction skills?
School Retrofit and Reconstruction
Project, Iran: Needs
A significant effort (250,000 classrooms)
90% schools of masonry construction
70% schools are of non-engineered
unreinforced masonry construction
Construction quality for some (many?)
schools likely an issue
Viability of retrofit is questionable in such
instances
Confined Masonry for Iranian Schools
An opportunity to provide enhanced seismic
safety for new school buildings
It is also possible to retrofit the existing
confined masonry school buildings, provided
that the construction quality is acceptable –
otherwise reconstruction is preferred
Global Resources Now Available:
Seismic Design Guide for
Confined Masonry Buildings
 A project of the Confined Masonry Network
 Developed by an international expert group under the auspices of
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and International
Association of Earthquake Engineering (IAEE)
 Recommendations based on experience from countries and regions
where confined masonry construction has been practiced for many
decades, including Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, China,
Algeria and Slovenia.
Seismic Design Guide
for Low-Rise Masonry
Buildings
available online at
www.confinedmasonry.org
12
Upcoming Events
 12th Canadian masonry Symposium, Vancouver, Canada, June 2-5, 2013
www.cms2013.ca
 9th International Masonry Conference, 2014, Guimaraes, Portugal
www.9imc.uminho.pt
 North American Masonry Conference, 2015, Denver, USA
 International Brick/Block Masonry Conference, 2016, Padua, Italy
Acknowledgments
Co-authors of the Guide:
 Maximiliano Astroza, Chile;
 Tim Hart, USA;
 Teddy Boen, Indonesia;
 Ahmed Mebarki, France;
 Francisco Crisafulli, Argentina;
 A.S. Moghadam, Iran;
 Junwu Dai, China;
 Daniel Quiun, Peru;
 Mohammed Farsi, Algeria;
 Miha Tomazevic, Slovenia;
 Luis Yamin, Colombia.
The sponsors:
Haiti eq photo: Ben Benjamin,
WSB, Vancouver