Effect of Buttress Form on Transverse Seismic Resistance of Masonry Buildings

This study investigates the effect of buttress form on the seismic resistance of masonry buildings. For this purpose, a basic model generated from a real masonry building was considered. Pushover analysis method was adopted, and finite element modeling and calculations were performed using the Abaqus program. Two groups of analyses were carried out on the basic model and its modified versions that have buttresses of different forms. In the first group, the volumes of the buttresses were kept equal, while in the second group their base depths and thicknesses were taken equally. At the end of analyses, the effect of buttress form on the transverse seismic resistance, toughness, and initial stiffness were determined through the comparison of pushover curves obtained for the models. The study revealed that the buttress form has a significant effect on the seismic resistance properties of a masonry building, especially in the case of equal volume buttresses. In addition, the verification calculation performed with limit analysis method for the seismic resistance value of the basic model showed that the results obtained with the Abaqus program was consistent.