This article presents the comparison among different nonlinear seismic analysis methods applied to masonry buildings, i.e., pushover analyses with invariant lateral force distributions, adaptive pushover analysis and nonlinear dynamic analysis. The study focuses on the influence of lateral force distribution on the results of the pushover analysis. Two simple benchmark case studies are considered for the purpose of the research, i.e., a four-wall masonry building prototype without floor rigid diaphragms and a two-wall system with a cross-vault. The comparative study offers a useful review of pushover analysis methods for masonry structures and shows advantages and possible limitations of each approach.

This article discusses seismic behavior of a multi-tier brick masonry pagoda strengthened with modern materials. A three-tier pagoda, the Radha Krishna temple is studied. This Hindu temple was located in the historic centre of Patan, Nepal. The structure was composed of masonry walls of solid bricks and mud mortar with the timber frame structure placed in the walls. A large-scale intervention was carried out in 1992. Concrete ring beams were installed at the top of the ground tier and first-tier. Cross steel I-beams were located at the top of the first tier. The pagoda was completely collapsed after the Gorkha earthquake in 2015. The article discusses behavior and capacity of the pagoda under a seismic load. Two FE models are prepared, representing the state before and after the above-mentioned intervention. The adopted material properties are determined on the basis of the dynamic identification and laboratory material tests. Pushover and nonlinear dynamic analysis (NDA) are applied. An accelerogram generated from the Gorkha earthquake is considered for NDA. The applied seismic analyses examine closely the behavior and capacity of the pagoda before and after the intervention. The article provides suggestions for the seismic analysis of pagoda-type structures.

Recently, Zagreb was struck by a strong earthquake. Damage throughout the city was tremendous due to numerous aged and vulnerable masonry buildings. Many damaged buildings are under a certain level of cultural heritage protection. Hence, reliable assessment and effective rehabilitation are important to preserve cultural significance and mitigate risk for human life. With that in mind, the procedure of a detailed condition assessment of the building under heritage protection is presented. A detailed historical background of the case study building is shown, and observed damage and conducted in situ tests are discussed. The nonlinear static seismic analysis performed in the 3Muri software is extensively elaborated. Four different levels of reconstruction according to new Croatian law are briefly presented. Additionally, several strengthening scenarios are proposed with various strengthening techniques.

The present paper discusses similitude laws employed for the shaking-table tests of masonry structures with flexible diaphragms. Two tasks are tackled. First, the paper presents a literature review on similitude laws. The discussion focuses on Cauchy and Cauchy-Froude laws. Second, numerical analysis is performed to examine the accuracy and adequacy of the aforementioned two laws. Two previously performed shaking-table tests are taken advantage of as the case studies. The paper explores the ideal applications of similitude laws to the shaking table tests of masonry structures with flexible diaphragms by comparing the behaviour between full-scale prototypes and reduced-scale models.