Title: Reinforced Masonry Building Under Lateral Loading-A Numerical Study (Open Source)

Author(s): Sarkar Noor-E-Khuda

Publication: Structural Journal

Volume: 119

Issue: 6

Appears on pages(s): 83-98

Keywords: explicit finite element (EFE) modeling; fully grouted (FG); lateral loading; reinforced masonry (RM); reinforcement

DOI: 10.14359/51734794

Date: 11/1/2022

Abstract:
Fully grouted reinforced masonry (FGRM) walls, being an assemblage of hollow blocks with all cores grouted and vertical and horizontal reinforcements, offer unparalleled resistance to lateral and gravitational loading over their unreinforced counterparts. The Australian masonry standard AS 3700:2018 provides guidelines for the design of reinforced masonry walls to seismic or cyclonic loading with a minimum vertical and horizontal reinforcement ratio as low as 0.13% and 0.07%, respectively. The performance of FGRM shear walls in a building structure designed within the AS 3700:2018 provisions with a low reinforcement ratio has hardly been addressed by researchers. This paper investigates the structural performance of a three-story prototype FGRM building under quasi-static lateral loading applied severally from different directions. The assessment is carried out exclusively using an explicit finite element (EFE) model. The EFE model is briefly presented and the structural performance—that is, load capacity, stiffness, and displacement ductility—of the FGRM building and the component walls are discussed in detail. The structural performance of the walls of the prototype building is compared with similar walls (which were analyzed separately), and this comparison provides key insights on the influence of realistic end support conditions on the structural behavior of FGRM walls. It was found that the component walls of the prototype FGRM building experienced pure in-plane and out-of-plane loading, and their load displacement relationship and failure pattern altered due to changes in the loading direction.