Investigation of Traffic-induced Vibrations on Masonry Buildings in Turkey and Countermeasures

Masonry buildings are a common low-rise residential building type in Turkey. These buildings are generally built by the owner with nonengineering background and mostly they are not well designed buildings. Traffic induced vibrations are one of the important damage reasons for these types of buildings. In the present study, masonry buildings were investigated with regard to vehicle loads. Different modeling types and conditions were employed in the analyses. Loading cases and soil conditions were investigated for determination of the structural behavior of masonry buildings. Furthermore, a passive barrier effect was investigated by considering a damping trench at a certain distance from the building surface with and without stabilization materials implanted for damping the vibrations caused by vehicles. As a result of the study, traffic induced vibrations on structural behavior of masonry buildings were found critical and the damping trench was a considerable countermeasure for that vibration.