Seismic performance assessment of three modern masonry buildings struck by the 2012 Emilia earthquake

The earthquake sequence of May 2012 in Emilia (Italy) affected a region where a considerable number of modern dwellings consists of low-rise unreinforced masonry buildings. Several post-earthquake surveys revealed that the overall seismic performance of these structures was rather good, while only limited number of buildings exhibited extensive damage mainly due to peculiar structural deficiencies. The study aims at investigating the seismic performance of three modern clay masonry constructions in the area hit by the 2012 earthquake sequence in a probabilistic framework. Numerical models of the selected case buildings were developed with the aid of an equivalent-frame modelling approach employing macroelements. Fragility functions for each building were later derived to describe system failure over a wide range of shaking, accounting for the uncertainty and the randomness involved in the evaluation of structural capacity and seismic demand.