Preliminary Centrifuge Tests on Unreinforced Masonry Buildings Built Using a Sand-Based 3D Printer

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4. Preliminary Centrifuge Tests on Unreinforced Masonry Buildings Built Using a Sand-Based 3D Printer

Shake table centrifuge testing of small-scale physical models is useful for geotechnical and structural engineers. However, at scales on the order of 1:15, creating physical models of unreinforced masonry (URM) structures is challenging from a practical point of view, and with respect to scaling. The response of URM is stress-dependent, and therefore, centrifuge modeling is ideally suited to maintain the proper stress level and alleviate scale effects. This paper presents a preliminary centrifuge model test on URM buildings, built using a sand-based 3D printer, aiming to solve manufacturing problems at a small scale. Since 3D printers can only handle a single material, the modeling of mortar joints is conducted through precise control of the micro-geometry of the printed material at joint locations, essentially emulating joints with notches. A unidirectional seismic action is applied using a shaking table mounted on the geotechnical beam centrifuge of the ETH Zurich Geotechnical Centrifuge Center (GCC). A preliminary test is presented and the results are compared to a similar full-scale test from the literature. The response of the centrifuge models is evaluated based on acceleration response, damage, and collapse mechanisms, in function of an increasing intensity earthquake testing protocol.

4th Asia-Pacific Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ACPMG2024)

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