EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF SEISMIC BEHAVIOUR OF QUINCHA WALLS FROM THE HISTORICAL CENTRE OF LIMA - PERU

The historic centre of Lima, declared world heritage in 1988, was the capital of the Spanish Viceroyalty since the middle of the sixteen century until early nineteenth century, and its importance was maintained during the Republican era until present time. The buildings constructed during the Spanish Viceroyalty and the Republican era, have a high value related to history, architecture, artistic and ancient technology. The most common buildings of that period of time are the family houses called "casonas". The houses consist of two or three stories buildings, the first story constructed of adobe masonry and the second and third of quincha walls. The quincha system is composed by posts and beams of timber, filled with cross linked cane and mud plaster. It is a very flexible system and its characteristics have contributed to keep up the historical centre of Lima until today, although Lima is located in a high seismic zone in Peru. This paper presents the results of an experimental program consisting of cyclic horizontal shear test of twelve full scale walls that reproduce the original typologies of quincha system from the historical centre of Lima. From these tests, numerical values of mechanical properties were obtained for properly modelling the seismic response of these ancient construction system and in this way confirming the good behaviour of this type of construction. The experimental information obtained from this program will be useful also for assessment and conservation purposes and retroffiting strategies for improving seismic performance.