Abstract

The 2017 Puebla Earthquake on September 19 struck a big part of Mexico causing the loss of historic buildings in several states, being the state of Morelos one of the most damaged in the whole country. Jojutla de Juarez was the most affected locality of Morelos presenting important structural damages or total collapse in the built heritage, being the traditional earthen buildings, made of adobe bricks, the most vulnerable buildings to seismic efforts. Some of the causes which contributed to the poor behaviour of the buildings were the improper handling of the constructive systems and materials, the insufficient resistance of the structures and the problems derivate by the foundations. The adobe houses of Jojutla presented a mixture between the traditional building techniques and industrial materials like concrete, bricks, blocks and steel; also with irregular heights and plant layouts and inadequate connections between the walls and foundations and roofs, resulting into a higher seismic vulnerability when the earthquake impacted. Also the adobe bricks presented irregularities in its composition and use of additives which resulted in completely different typologies and the loss of the traditional construction techniques. There was conducted a study to determine the earthquake resistance of the adobe bricks of the houses in Jojutla, considering that the remaining structures were severely damaged and a whole study of the seismic vulnerability would not be possible due the loss of the physical buildings. The granulometry and composition of the adobe samples of the buildings were determined as well as the natural aggregates like straw and its proportion. Also the compressive strength of the pieces was tested by two methods: the compression test and the point-load test, in order to obtain the indicative values which could be compared with other patrimonial and vernacular study cases.