1st Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering 1CroCEE 2021

Just like load-bearing structures, façades must also be able to safely transfer loads resulting from earthquakes. Although they are defined as non-structural elements in the current standards, façades represent a significant risk in the event of failure. Falling parts of façades can cause considerable injury to people, but even after an earthquake, fallen elements block access and escape routes, thus blocking important rescue and emergency services. In particular, heavy façades - those with a deadload of more than 100 kg/m² - pose an increased risk. The following paper deals especially with anchorages for these heavy façades, i.e. consisting of masonry, natural stone or concrete.
As the fixings form the link between the two systems (façade/ load bearing structure) they have to be dimensioned adequately. Whether the fixings should be designed as ductile or rigid also has to be examined; this influences the interaction and the bearing behaviour significantly.
Up to now, several experimental examinations have been made. Large scale tests such as shake table tests as well as detailed component tests were carried out to compare rigid and ductile (load) bearing behaviour of fixings for heavy façades. These tests have shown that it is possible to reach a sufficient level of safety by adequately strengthening the existing fixing systems.
In general, new methods for modelling the behaviour of heavy façades during earthquakes need to be developed. Results from shake table tests and other experimental examinations support this technical approach. Suitable recommendations are discussed in this paper, the technical background is explained and the experiment results are illustrated.