STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM FOR LOAD BEARING MASONRY SCHOOL BUILDINGS

Many school infrastructures around the world have poor seismic performance exposing millions of school children to significant seismic risk. School facilities also serve as shelters for communities during disasters. Many of these school buildings were constructed long before the development of seismic design practices and in developing countries, school buildings are still being built locally without any seismic design. Moreover, unreinforced masonry construction, using brick, stone, mud etc., is rather vulnerable to earthquakes. Thus, it is important to understand the seismic performance of masonry school buildings, and then to seismically strengthen them to stand stronger during destructive seismic actions. For the seismic vulnerability analysis, a comprehensive structural classification is crucial for grouping the school buildings into distinct structural typologies. This paper focuses on the development of a globally applicable structural classification system for load bearing masonry (LBM) school buildings, as a first step towards the seismic vulnerability analysis and strengthening strategy selection for risk reduction of school buildings at regional level. A number of seismic vulnerability parameters specific to masonry school buildings (such as load bearing wall type, building height, diaphragm flexibility etc.) are identified for the development of a comprehensive structural classification system which collectively result in a taxonomy string for a building structure unique to each building type. Finally, the application of this classification system to identify index buildings in each typology of LBM school buildings for the seismic vulnerability analysis at regional level is presented