Investigation of structural safety of existing masonry healthcare facilities in Turkey

Masonry healthcare facilities in Turkey are investigated in the current research. The structural assessment of the healthcare facilities has become very important for increasing building safety. A large amount of the existing healthcare facilities are generally old buildings, constructed before engineering practices were developed making most buildings vulnerable to severe structural damage. Since healthcare facilities are costly buildings to replace, structural and non-structural assessments have economical importance. Even non-structural behavior can be more critical than structural behavior as ground vibrations can cause severe damage to these types of facilities. Different ground vibrations and soil types are employed in the analyses to investigate structural and non-structural behavior of these types of facilities. © 2011 The Author(s).