Behavior of Lime Concrete Floor Diaphragm System in Masonry Buildings

Unreinforced masonry (URM) construction is considered to be the most vulnerable forms of construction as demonstrated through recent earthquakes all over the world. During last 500 years and more unreinforced brick masonry buildings evolved in the world as a popular type of construction practice depending upon social fabric and the availability of skill and material. Some clusters of URM building have been selected with varied topology from the historic city Kolkata for this study. This study is an attempt to evaluate some basic behaviour of this URM building with traditional floor diaphragm, which may help in formulation of suitable guidelines towards risk reduction against seismic activity.