Investigation of Drift-based Damage Limit States for Historical Masonry Structures

Drift-based performance assessment has been a practical tool among the research and engineering community. However, several studies showed that there are several critical issues such as seismic damage definitions and their quantifications related to the displacement-based approach when it is applied not only to modern masonry structures but also to historical ones. The main reason is due to (i) failure mode dependency, (ii) geometry, loading and boundary conditions, (iii) inadequate prediction of the failure modes based on in-plane capacity formulations given in the codes. The present article discusses the reliability of drift limit values proposed by different codes and guidelines by comparing drift values derived in two datasets of masonry piers through considering an application to a real case study. It is observed that performance-based assessment is mainly based on the failure mode of the masonry structure, while the Guideline for Earthquake Risk Management of Historical Structures in Turkey, which is widely used in practice, proposes drift limits that are independent of the masonry behavior. Without consideration of the behavior mode can lead to incorrect assumptions and hence unconservative performance assessment outcomes for the architectural heritage.