Study of Post-Tensioned and Reinforced Masonry Walls under Lateral Loads<i> </i>

Abstract

Moderate to strong earthquakes can cause considerable damage to masonry walls which are primary structural elements for decades. In previous earthquakes, a large number of masonry walls failed due to insufficient shear strength with excessive in-plane deformation, or due to insufficient out-of- plane bending capacity of the walls in the perpendicular direction. Typically, out-of- plane failure is far more prevalent and happens earlier than in-plane failure in most past earthquakes. Thus their arises the need to strengthen this masonry walls. Generally, the compressive forces that masonry walls bear vary at different storey’s vary , therefore, walls at lower storey’s can only be applied with relatively smaller prestress due to already higher compression stresses produced by self-weight and floor dead load. Many strengthening methodsSuch as using NSM-CFRP, post tensioning, shortcreting etc. are excellent methods of strengthening masonry walls. In this the performance of post tensioned and reinforced masonry walls is analyzed. Ungrouted, partially grouted, and fully grouted Post Tensioned [PT] Masonry Walls exhibit different behavior and failure mechanisms. For this an analytical model based on an experimental study is prepared and their results are compared with ABAQUS.