Evaluación y reforzamiento de una estructura patrimonial de adobe con irregularidad en planta

Ecuador has many heritage structures made of fragile earth-based materials like adobe. Recent seismic events have revealed the poor performance of these structures due to their large mass and low capacity to withstand seismic loads. This article presents the evaluation of Simon Bolívar high-school old building and different reinforcement techniques in this heritage structure of adobe wall system with plan irregularities, located in Quito downtown. This study considers that the external forces are acting in the direction of the strongest plane of the wall, and adobe walls have low capacity against plane lateral loads. Based on those conditions, a sensitivity analysis of the finite element discretization is presented with the use of a commercial program, and empirical values that relate the proportion of the finite element and the main length of the wall are determined. Thus, this proposal of finite element meshing aims to obtain initial ratios for elements size to make a first calibration analysis by controlling stresses and displacements. This proposal evaluates the finite element meshing commonly used in bidimensional structures, so the importance of the initial meshing calibration to obtain reliable results is pointed out.