ABSTRACT
Numerous historical masonry buildings are still in service all over the world and a significant part of them are of cultural and artistic value (Foraboschi 2004). Due to the accumulated effects of poor construction, seismic, wind action, foundation settlements and environmental deterioration, old masonry structures often present wide fracture and may be structural deficient or inadequate for current use as the modern-day loads are often far higher than ones initially considered (Tan &Patoary 2001). In Australia the majority of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings have been constructed with little or no seismic requirement. This has resulted in a large inventory of buildings that possess an inability to dissipate energy through inelastic deformation in an earthquake event.
