The seismic assessment of existing masonry buildings is based on the prediction of their nonlinear response under lateral loading. This requires a reliable estimation of the force and displacement demand. For this purpose, modelling strategies using structural component elements are widely applied both in research and in engineering practice, since they can provide a satisfactory description of...

This masonry research investigated the differences in the static and dynamic stiffness for the seismic range of loads and frequencies for a pressed clay masonry wythe. The effective stiffness has been defined in Newtonian physics and Damage Mechanics. This research used the concept of measured stiffness defined as the measured stress field divided by the measured strain field. A two-part test r...

By Timothy Phillips Vaughan, MS. Washington State University May 2010 Chair: David I. McLean This research evaluated the structural performance of reinforced masonry shear walls conforming to requirements given in the 2008 MSJC Building Code Requirements for Masonry Structures under cyclic lateral loading. Seismic design provisions in the 2008 MSJC provide prescriptive requirements for three di...

This paper presents an investigation into the development of a novel glycerol bound masonry unit and the use of multi-parameter mathematical modelling technique in evaluating the possibility to reduce the amount of sample produced with a comparable result obtained. Initially, an experimental optimisation was carried out to identify the best performance sample in term of compressive strength. Th...

Masonry infill walls are often used as non-structural elements. According to the past structural failure, ignorance of interaction between infill walls and enclosed frame may lead to the different seismic response for non-ductile building frames. The main contribution of this paper is to analytically investigate the behavior of reinforced concrete with masonry infill panels as participating str...

In a previous publication the authors proposed a continuous model for describing the mechanical behaviour of ‘Running Bond’ masonry walls. Here a different masonry structure is considered. This structure is ‘bi-atomic’ in the sense that its pattern consists in two kind of blocks with different. The homogenization by differential expansions technique is used for obtaining an equivalent Cosserat ...

This work describes the course of the experiment aimed to microwave (MW) desiccation of masonry by MW plug-in bar antenna applied to various types of brickwork. Experiment was carried on in the masonry manufactured from solid bricks, modern hollow brick form-pieces THERM and from aerated concrete blocks YTONG. Results of this experiment should determine what type of MW desiccation method is the...

Masonry is a heterogeneous structural material which exhibits a complex behaviour with potential cracking in each of its phases. Its structure (geometrical arrangement of mortar joints, quasi-brittle constituents) causes the appearance of complex composite failure modes with loading path dependence and strong damage-induced anisotropy effects. Large scale computations for masonry structures req...

This paper describes finite element studies of one-way out-of-plane failure of unreinforced masonry walls under static loading. The studies are early steps in the development of a method that will be applicable to two-way out-of-plane failure of walls under dynamic loading. The approach is based on a discrete-crack approach, where mortar beds are modelled using contact-interface elements, and m...