Mechanical behaviours of masonry walls constructed with different methods under reverse-cycling loads

Abstract

In this study, experiments were performed to examine the behaviours of a masonry wall constructed with normal mortar (reference wall), masonry wall constructed with mortal, the binding property of which is improved with additive (model wall), masonry wall constructed with normal mortar, by application of horizontal joint reinforcement with epoxy resin-FRP, under reverse-cycling earthquake loads. For this reason, 3 different prototype walls were produced which had the same geometrical properties with exact dimensions. The results of mechanical behaviours such as first crack, failure behaviour, ductility, energy consumption formed in these walls were investigated and compared. As a result, it was observed that masonry walls failure by forming failure lines are similar to yield lines formed in reinforced concrete floor under reverse-cycling out of plane loads, the kind of failure is brittle and they do not have the ductility that yield lines have. It was also observed that, model wall and the wall constructed by application of horizontal joint reinforcement with epoxy resin-FRP provided more strength by 25% increase than reference wall. Moreover, it was determined that, the ductility in reference wall is 41% more than the one in model wall and 48% more than the wall reinforced with epoxy resin-FRP and the reference wall consumes 25 and 22% more energy than the model wall and the wall reinforced with epoxy resin-FRP, respectively. All these studies showed that when this method is applied, an increase in strength and a decrease in ductility could be obtained against earthquakes. In other words, while the construction gets reinforced against earthquakes, its failure (rigidity) increases. Key words: Masonry, construction, mechanical behaviour, reverse-cycling load, earthquake, FRP, additive.