Semi-confined Unreinforced Brick Masonry

Recently, researchers from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, developed a solution for retrofitting old non-earthquake-resistant buildings with a technology that can prevent major damage to such buildings from earthquakes without compromising on their strength. The technology is called semi-confined unreinforced brick masonry (SC-URBM).

SC-URBM: The idea of the technology emerged from confined masonry, an earthquake-resistant construction system where the masonry walls are built first, and the concrete columns and beams are poured in afterward to enclose (confine) the wall.

• SC-URBM technology has a similar concept but does not need to be implemented at the construction stage.
• It involves embedding of reinforced concrete (RC) bands through the partial thickness of the wall and can be implemented or retrofitted in old buildings.

Significance: The new technology can resolve the problem of spread of settlements in earthquake-prone areas with constructions that have been built without following earthquake-preventive building codes.

• This technology for strengthening existing URBM buildings is not only architecturally aesthetic but can also be implemented easily by manpower available locally