Seismic performance of reinforced masonry structural walls with confined boundary elements

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The masonry construction industry represents a substantial portion of both existing and new residential, commercial and industrial low- to medium-rise structures across Canada. Reinforced Masonry (RM) structural walls constructed with concrete block units are an effective seismic force resisting system that provides lateral strength, stiffness and energy dissipation capacity required to resist lateral loads arising from earthquakes or wind. In the past decade, there has been considerable advancement in the design of RM shear walls for new constructions. This is reflected in the most recent CSA S304-14 "Design of Masonry Structures" design standard where ductile RM shear walls are introduced with confined boundary elements. However, limited experimental and analytical data are available for this newly proposed system. The main objective of the proposed research work is to quantify the seismic performance of RM shear walls with different configurations of confined boundary elements. The specific objectives are focused on the following research areas: (1) to quantify experimentally the enhancement of ductility capacity and seismic performance parameters of scaled models of RM walls with boundary elements with different detailing configurations and confinement levels; (2) to develop experimentally validated analytical models to be used in the framework of performance based design and assessment of RM walls; and (3) to propose code oriented provisions for the design of RM walls with boundary elements for the next cycle of the CSA S304 design standard.Besides the enhanced seismic hazard safety in Canada, the proposed research will generate new and complementary experimental and analytical fundamental knowledge, practical advancements, code design provisions and prescriptive detailing requirements, as well as training of HQP, which will have significant impact for the end users and stakeholders of the masonry manufacturing, design and construction industries in North America.