Shake Table Seismic Performance Assessment of Lightly Reinforced Concrete Block Shear Walls

Abstract

AbstractThere is a need to develop a reinforced masonry (RM) seismic performance database (SPD) of experimental results in order to facilitate adoption of RM seismic force-resisting systems (SFRS) in the next generation of performance-based seismic design (PBSD) codes. As a contribution to this SPD, and within a larger ongoing research program, this paper reports on recent shake table tests performed on lightly reinforced masonry shear walls. The test walls covered a range of design parameters to facilitate benchmarking, further performance investigation, and calibration of numerical models as well as future development of fragility curves within the context of PBSD. The design parameters of the walls were selected to meet the requirements of the lightly reinforced conventional construction category. This particular RM wall category is not permitted in moderate and high seismic zones in the Canada based on Canadian masonry design code. Within the context of PBSD, the wall seismic performances, in terms of...