Monotonic, cyclic and dynamic behaviour of timber-masonry connections

Historical or existing buildings are often composed of brick or stone masonry walls, and timber floors and roofs. When these buildings are subjected to earthquakes, the interaction among such structural components is essential to avoid collapse or excessive damage to the constructions. In this framework, a crucial role is played by the connections between horizontal and vertical structural elements: this is especially true when considering existing buildings not designed or realized taking into account seismic actions, because no measures against these events are present. An example of such a situation is noticeable in the province of Groningen, in the northern part of the Netherlands, where human-induced earthquakes take place due to gas extraction. Given the absence of seismic events until recently, a characterization of the existing buildings is necessary, and strengthening measures have to be analysed, in order to make them earthquake-safe. This work describes the experimental campaign conducted at Delft University of Technology to assess the seismic behaviour of as-built and strengthened timber-masonry connections. Results show that existing joints are not suitable to withstand earthquakes, while the proposed strengthened configurations can increase not only strength and stiffness, but also energy dissipation of the connections.