Response of Reinforced Masonry Walls to Out-of-Plane DynamicExcitation

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Masonry construction comprises a large portion of building construction in the U.S. and the world. Reinforced masonry construction use is increasing in moderate to higher seismic zones because of its apparent features of economy, fire safety, architectural flexibility and ease of construction. The present state of masonry structural analysis and design and materials and construction technologies does not enable an accurate prediction of building behavior under lateral loads such as seismic loads. In the U.S., masonry buildings are designed and built with methods, codes, and standards that rely upon a mixture of working stress methods, empirical rules, and questionable methods for determining allowable stress values. Masonry is also a complex building material because of the large number of design and construction variables which influence the final product configuration and its response under seismic loads. In order to describe the seismic response of masonry buildings it is necessary to develop the fundamental knowledge base to determine basic design methodologies consistent with safety and economic requirements. This research project will investigate and provide basic data for verification of analytical models that describe the out-of-plane response of masonry walls. It is focused on reinforced clay masonry walls. The experimental portion of this program will consist of quasi- static, cyclic testing of reinforced clay masonry walls subjected to out-of-plane loadings. The data produced will include force- displacement load paths and hysteretic loops, as well as strain data in the masonry and reinforcement. The analytical portion will utilize the mathematical models developed by others in the TCCMAR program. The final research results will then be used to establish rational limit state design methodologies to resist seismic loadings. The principal investigator is highly qualified to conduct this research project and the institution provides excellent facilities. An award is recommended for this twelve-month research project. This research project is part of the U.S.-Japan Coordinated Program for Masonry Building Research and the Technical Coordinating Committee for Masonry Research (TCCMAR) Program.