Investigation and Analysis on Seismic Damage of Masonry Buildings Subjected to Wenchuan Ms=8.0 Earthquake

During Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake, masonry buildings have suffered severely damaged and collapsed, causing heavy casualties and huge economic losses. In this paper, based on seismic site survey data, some new phenomena and characteristics of earthquake damage in comparison with the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, such as seismic damage of large space buildings, inclined or “X” shaped crack in wall between windows or spandrel wall, stair damage, falling of precast reinforced concrete slab and horizontal crack at the bottom of structure, are discussed in detail. Then, the impact factors of seismic capacity of masonry building in Wenchuan earthquake, including construction age, seismic fortification, bay size, floor (roof) form, layer number, thickness of bearing wall are analyzed, respectively; Finally, some recommendations on seismic design and reconstruction of masonry structure by the seismic design code are proposed.