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Seismic verification of masonry buildings based on realistic calculation models and increased behavior factors With the application of the traditional linear verification concept to masonry structures it is already no longer possible to carry out structural safety verifications even for buildings with standard ground plan configurations in areas with moderate seismicity. This problem will be exacerbated in Germany with the introduction of continuous probabilistic earthquake maps. Due to the increased seismic actions, it is necessary to make the existing load‐bearing capacity reserves that have not yet been taken into account available in comprehensible verification concepts in construction practice. This article presents a concept for the building‐specific determination of increased behavior factors. The behavior factors are composed of three components, which take into account the load redistribution in ground plans, the deformation capability and energy dissipation and all kinds of overstrength effects. For the calculation of these three components, a non‐linear verification concept based on pushover analyses is applied, in which the interactions of walls and floor slabs are described by a level of restraint. A non‐linear modeling approach of the overall building is introduced for the determination of the restraint levels, with which the interaction of walls and floor slabs can be simulated. The results of the linear verifications with increased behavior factors for this building are significantly closer to the results of non‐linear verifications and thus the standard ground plan configurations in areas with moderate seismicity can still be verified with the traditional linear calculation approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic verification of masonry buildings in German earthquake regions With financial support of the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mauerwerks‐ und Wohnungsbau e.V." (DGfM) and the "Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik" (DIBt) in Berlin, two consecutive research projects were carried out to improve the seismic verification of masonry buildings in German earthquake regions. First, the seismic behavior of three modern unreinforced masonry buildings in the region of Emilia Romagna in Italy during the earthquake series in 2012 was investigated in detail in cooperation with the University of Pavia. Based on the results of these investigations an improved seismic design concept for unreinforced masonry buildings was developed. The paper presents the main results of the conducted research work and their transfer into standardization and engineering practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]