EVALUATION OF COLLAPSE ACCELERATION OF MASONRY WALLS OF “TENSYUDAI” OF JAPANESE CASTLES SUBJECTED TO HORIZONTAL LOAD

Inclining experiments of model masonry walls

Abstract

One of the main causes of the collapse of “Tensyudai”, base of castle tower, of Japanese castles is the inertia of the masonry wall stones during the earthquake. The purpose of this study is to evaluate collapse acceleration when horizontal acceleration acts on the masonry walls. Inclining experiments of masonry wall models are conducted to statically represent the horizontal load, and the collapse mechanism is discussed. The collapse mechanism of the masonry walls is constructed considering the three-dimensional mechanical characteristics under horizontal loading as inertia force due to horizontal ground motion acceleration, and the critical states equations is derived. It is confirmed that there is good correspondence between experimental and theoretical collapse accelerations.