A Full-Scale Shaking Table Test on Philippine Concrete Hollow Blocks (CHB) Masonry Houses

Abstract

Most of the human casualties in past earthquakes were attributed to the collapse of buildings, particularly masonry constructions in developing countries. Most of these buildings are categorized into “Non-Engineered Construction.” In effect, these structure are spontaneously and informally constructed in various countries in a traditional manner without any or with little intervention in their design by qualified architects and engineers. Unfortunately, these types of buildings have been extensively constructed in most of the seismic prone areas in developing countries. Therefore, the safety of “Non-Engineered Construction” has become one of the most urgent issues in recent years. The concrete hollow block (CHB) masonry structures have recently become common residential structures in the Philippines. A full-scale shaking table test on CHB masonry structures of Philippine ordinary houses was conducted in Japan. This experiment aims to acquiring a better understanding of the behavior of these structures during major earthquakes, and its results will be used to produce simple seismic evaluation methods as awareness tools, and to disseminate information on safer construction of houses in the Philippines.