Jerry Vaculik

PhD Candidate

Contact Information

Email: jvaculik@civeng.adelaide.edu.au
Phone: +61 8 8303 4323
Room: Engineering North Building, N137

Research Topic

Seismic Design of Unreinforced Masonry Walls in Biaxial Bending.

Description

Although unreinforced masonry is commonly perceived to possess very limited ductility due to its brittle material behaviour, experimental and theoretical research indicates otherwise. In fact, out-of-plane collapse of masonry walls is governed by stability mechanisms and consequently masonry panels possess significant out-of-plane displacement capacity comparable in magnitude to the panel thickness.

Because of this additional 'reserve capacity' of such walls to deform beyond their ultimate load capacity (the peak on the load-displacement curve), traditional force-based methods can become vastly overconservative for seismic design, since they effectively limit wall deformations to relatively small 'cracking' displacements. By contrast, complete collapse will not occur unless the full displacement capacity of a wall is exceeded.

In recent years there has been a gradual paradigm shift in earthquake engineering for design and assessment of ductile systems, away from traditional force-based methods and toward displacement-based methods. Whilst a force-based approach aims to ensure that the force capacity of the structure satisfies the force demand, a displacement-based approach aims to ensure that the displacement capacity of the structure satisfies the displacement demand. The displacement-based approach becomes more representative of the displacement controlled nature of seismic loading and therefore more appropriate for ultimate limit state design in preventing the collapse of ductile structural systems.

The aim of this research is to develop a displacement-based assessment approach for the seismic design of unreinforced masonry in biaxial bending.

Supervisor(s)

Assoc Professor Michael Griffith - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Adelaide

Dr Togay Ozbakkaloglu - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Adelaide

Curriculum Vitae

Academic Qualifications and Awards

2001 - Bachelor of Science, University of Adelaide; Major in Organic Chemistry and Pharmacology
2002 - Steel Reinforcement Institute Award for Excellence in Reinforced Concrete Design
2002 - Summer Research Scholarship at the University of Adelaide; Numerical Modelling of Fluid Transients
2003 - Awarded the top mark for the 4th year Civil Engineering Research Project
2003 - Bachelor of Engineering (Civil), University of Adelaide; First Class Honours
2003 - Dean's Certificate of Merit
2004 - Australian Postgraduate Scholarship Award
2005 - Honourable Mention for The R.G. Drysdale Award for the best paper on masonry research or education (10th Canadian Masonry Symposium)
2007 - Awarded best student paper at the 2007 Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference (Shaketable Tests on Masonry Walls in Two-Way Bending)

Publications

Journal Papers

Griffith, M. C., J. Vaculik, N. T. K. Lam, J. Wilson, and E. Lumantarna. (2007). "Cyclic testing of unreinforced masonry walls in two-way bending." Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 36(6), 801-821.

Griffith, M. C., and J. Vaculik. (2007). "Out-of-plane flexural strength of unreinforced clay brick masonry walls." The Masonry Society Journal, 53-68.

Conference Papers

Vaculik, J., M. C. Griffith, B. Hogarth, and J. Todd. (2004). "Out-of-plane flexural response tests using dry-stack masonry." Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Mt Gambier, South Australia.

Griffith, M. C., and J. Vaculik. (2005). "Flexural strength of unreinforced clay brick masonry walls." 10th Canadian Masonry Symposium, Banff, Alberta.

Vaculik, J., M. Griffith, N. Lam, J. Wilson, and E. Lumantarna. (2005). "Cyclic response of unreinforced clay brick masonry walls." Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Albury, Victoria, Australia.

Lumantarna, E., N. T. K. Lam, J. Wilson, M. Griffith, and J. Vaculik. (2005). "Out-of-plane displacement behaviour of unreinforced masonry walls from time-history analyses." Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Albury, Victoria, Australia.

Vaculik, J., and M. C. Griffith. (2006). "Cyclic behaviour of unreinforced masonry walls in two-way bending." 7th International Masonry Conference, London, U. K.

Lumantarna, E., J. Vaculik, M. Griffith, N. Lam, and J. Wilson. (2006). "Seismic fragility curves for unreinforced masonry walls." Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Canberra, Australia, 33-40.

Lumantarna, E., N. T. K. Lam, J. Wilson, M. Griffith, and J. Vaculik. (2006). "The dynamic out-of-plane behaviour of unreinforced masonry walls." 19th Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Vaculik, J., and M. C. Griffith. (2007). "Shaketable Tests on Masonry Walls in Two-Way Bending." Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

Lumantarna, E., J. Vaculik, M. Griffith, N. Lam, and J. Wilson. (2007). "Dynamic response behaviour of unreinforced masonry walls subject to out of plane loading." Australian Earthquake Engineering Society Conference, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

Vaculik, J., E. Lumantarna, M. C. Griffith, N. T. K. Lam, and J. Wilson. (2008). "Out-of-plane seismic response of unreinforced masonry walls: An overview of research in Australia." 14th International Brick and Block Masonry Conference, Sydney, Australia.

Non-Refereed Conference Papers

Vaculik, J., E. Lumantarna, M. C. Griffith, N. T. K. Lam, and J. Wilson. (2007). "Out-of-plane behaviour of unreinforced masonry walls: recent research progress in Australia." ANCER Meeting, Hong Kong.