Design Challenges in Shake-Table Testing of Reduced-Scale Masonry Building for the Floor Response Spectra Evaluation

Shake-table tests can accurately simulate the seismic building response although their design can be very challenging. Limitations of the laboratory facility and the table typically require using reduced-scale mock-ups. However, the design of these mock-ups is not trivial because of the need to respect similitude laws to obtain a response consistent with the full-scale prototype. There are also issues associated with the construction of small specimens. In this context, the paper aims to discuss the issues of designing reduced-scale mock-ups by referring to a 1:3 unreinforced brick masonry building designed within the scope of the NEWTON (NEW TOols to compute the seismic demand on Non-structural components) project. This project intends to contribute to assessing the seismic input on acceleration-sensitive non-structural elements, computed typically using floor response spectra. The paper also presents the preliminary results from numerical simulations for planning the testing protocol, after a brief description of the building mock-up and earthquake record. For this purpose, pushover and time-history analyses were performed in Tremuri software on two equivalent frame models, alternatively considering weak spandrels and spandrels coupled with a tensile-resisting element. Monotonic and hysteretic results show good agreement in terms of response parameters and damage patterns. Floor response spectra were also calculated from the time-history analysis to check the amplification phenomenon in the elastic and nonlinear response of the building.