The increase of urban population in seismic areas and the lack of urban planning have caused the occupancy of hazardous zones around most cities in Latin America. Some dwellings in these settlements are located on terraces on steep hills supported by pircas (dry stone retaining walls). Seismic vulnerability analysis of these structures becomes a crucial step to assess the level of damage generated in possible events, and to propose alternatives for risk reduction and prevention. This analysis was conducted through a numerical model based on the discrete element method (DEM), three typologies of pircas where modelled according to a statistical analysis carried out in the case study. Damage state was defined taking into account the maximum displacement response. According to the lateral seismic acceleration in the out of plane direction, four states of damage were defined: slight, moderate...

The increase of urban population in seismic areas and the lack of urban planning have caused the occupancy of hazardous zones around most cities in Latin America. Some dwellings in these settlements are located on terraces on steep hills supported by pircas (dry stone retaining walls). Seismic vulnerability analysis of these structures becomes a crucial step to assess the level of damage generated in possible events, and to propose alternatives for risk reduction and prevention. This analysis was conducted through a numerical model based on the discrete element method (DEM), three typologies of pircas where modelled according to a statistical analysis carried out in the case study. Damage state was defined taking into account the maximum displacement response. According to the lateral seismic acceleration in the out of plane direction, four states of damage were defined: slight, moderate...

This research was developed under the support of the CONCYTEC with the contract N°109-2017-FONDECYT : “Validación de técnicas de construcción de pircas mediante estudios numérico-experimentales con tecnología desarrollada en Perú”. The authors also thank to the University Grenoble-Alpes and Laboratory Soils Solids Structures and Risk for the use of 3DEC software during the stay of one of the authors in the laboratory at Grenoble.