Majid Maleki¹, R. G. Drysdale², A. A. Hamid³, and A. A. El-Damatty⁴

1. Ph.D., Centre for Effective Design of Structures, Department of Civil Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton ON, L8S 4L7, Canada, malekim@mcmaster.ca
2. Professor Emeritus, Centre for Effective Design of Structures, Department of Civil Engineering, McMaster University, drysdale@mcmaster.ca
3. Professor, Department of Civil and Architecture Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA, hamidaa@drexel.edu
4. Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B8, Canada, damatty@uwo.ca

ABSTRACT

It is suggested that the conservative provisions of the Canadian masonry design standard for reinforcement details of masonry shear walls, restrict the use of reinforced masonry construction as a cost-efficient building system in regions with moderate seismic risks such as found in most parts of Canada. The experimental study presented in this paper was designed to provide information to evaluate the performance of partially grouted reinforced concrete block shear walls under in-plane cyclic loading. Five masonry shear walls having less than the commonly used minimum amount of reinforcing steel and larger bar spacing than specified in the seismic requirements of the current Canadian masonry design standard [1] were tested. The effect of aspect ratio (3 levels) and reinforcement spacing (3 levels) was considered within the test matrix. Wall specimens were constructed using half-scale model units of a 20-cm hollow concrete block. The ultimate load carrying capacities of the test walls indicated close agreement with the strengths predicted using the Canadian masonry standard. According to the proposed pseudo displacement ductility calculations, it was also found that the seismic load reduction factors suggested in the Canadian masonry design standard [1] underestimates the energy dissipation ability of partially grouted reinforced masonry shear walls despite large reinforcement spacing.

KEYWORDS: Shear Wall, Partially Grouted, Ductility, Experimental, Masonry, Reinforced, Concrete Block

A2-3