1 PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching & Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2W2, Canada, nazief@ualberta.ca
2 Associate Professor of Structural Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2W2, Canada, ykorany@ualberta.ca
ABSTRACT
Masonry walls have been used extensively to fill the frames of concrete and steel structures. Masonry infill walls contribute to resisting lateral loads exerted on framed buildings. Typically, the contribution of these walls to lateral load resistance is ignored in the design and masonry infill walls are rather treated as non-structural elements. Recently, several experimental and numerical investigations showed that masonry infill walls contribute significantly to the lateral load resistance of steel and concrete framed structures. A few of the current design standards and codes have adopted some of the models proposed in these investigations for the design of masonry infill shear walls.
A comparison of the in-plane resistance of masonry infill shear walls computed using the diagonal strut models in the Canadian, New Zealand, and American standards and codes is presented in this paper. Experimental test results from available literature for different types of masonry units and frame materials were used to assess the adequacy of the design expressions. All three design documents failed to provide consistent estimates for the lateral load resistance. Only the American code provided lateral load resistance estimates for masonry infill walls that are less than the measured values. The results of this study clearly demonstrated that much research is still needed to gain better understanding of the behaviour of masonry infilled frames and develop design expressions that are capable of predicting
the lateral load resistance of this type of wall with greater accuracy.
KEYWORDS: lateral load resistance, steel/concrete frames, masonry infill shear walls, diagonal strut model, design standards/codes
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