Innovative Ways of Dealing with Existing Problems: How to reliably Assess the Cause of Damage of Masonry Structures in an Area with Man-induced Earthquakes?

摘要

Groningen, a province in the northern part of the Netherlands, suffers from earthquakes because of gas drilling. The residential building stock in Groningen was not designed for these loads. Over the years a lot of smaller and larger damage has developed, possibly - but not necessarily - caused by the effects of gas drilling. Delft University of Technology was asked by the Dutch government to come up with a method to reliably assess the cause of damage of masonry structures in Groningen. This paper discusses the developed approach for reliably assessing the causes of failure of masonry structures in earthquake-prone areas and the way innovative monitoring techniques were applied.