Parametric nonlinear analyses to assess masonry buildings seismic behavior through fragility curves

Nonlinear analysis methods are often used in the framework of the masonry buildings structural assessment to study their global response with respect to seismic action. This study presents parametric pushover analyses on a simple case study made of brick masonry and rigid floors by varying piers and spandrels slenderness. The aim of this work is to define the global response, expressed in terms of fragility curves, through some primary variables included in the parametric analysis. Then, a comparison of two methods for estimating numerical fragility curves through the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) is presented. Fragility curves are derived by referring to the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) as Intensity Measure (IM). In addition, a comparison with empirical fragility curves is presented and discussed.