Studies on shear strength and stiffness of brick masonry walls

Abstract

Load bearing walls of Masonry structure are subjected to both gravity loads and horizontal loads during earthquake. The failure in shear is normally observed in masonry buildings under lateral in-plane loads. The state of knowledge relating to the strength and deformation characteristics of masonry to in-plane lateral loads is less than that in compression. The shear strength and stiffness of walls are important parameters in the design of masonry structures against lateral loads. Hence detailed investigation on the behavior of masonry when subjected to lateral in-plane forces is necessary. The shear strength and stiffness of masonry walls built with burnt clay bricks in 1:6 cement mortar and thin jointed cement granite fines paste have been evaluated from racking load test. Walls with different configurations such as with flanges, with reinforcement and both the half brick and one brick thick walls without reinforcement were built and tested. Load deflection graphs were plotted for all the walls and the shear strength, stiffness,energy for failure were determined. The results indicated that the shear strength of walls built in thin jointed masonry is superior compared to conventional cement mortar. The behavior of walls with flanges is ductile when compared to walls without flanges.