Sepasdar, Reza1 and Liu, Yi2
1 Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Resource Engineering, Dalhousie University, 5248 Morris St., Halifax, NS, Canada, reza.sepasdar@dal.ca
2 Professor, Department of Civil and Resource Engineering, Dalhousie University, 5248 Morris St., Halifax, NS, Canada, yi.liu@dal.ca
ABSTRACT
This paper presents results of an experimental study focusing on the out-of-plane behaviour and strength of concrete masonry infills bounded by reinforced concrete (RC) frames.A total of four masonry infilled RC frame specimens was tested with different parameters. One was considered as a control specimen; one was built with a window opening in the infill; and the other two had sustained damage caused by either prior in-plane or out-of-plane loading. Of two specimens with prior damage, one was first subjected to in-plane loading until occurrence of a major diagonal crack, and then tested under out-of-plane pressure to failure. The other was first subjected to outof-plane pressure until occurrence of a major horizontal crack around the mid-height of the infill, and then tested under in-plane loading to failure. All masonry infills were built in tight contact at all boundaries with their bounding frames to enable arching action. All specimens were constructed with the same geometry using half-scale 200 mm standard concrete masonry units laid in running bond. The specimen details, and test setup and procedure are described. The experimental results were presented and discussed in terms of load vs. displacement response, cracking pattern, and failure mode for each specimen. The effect of parameters as well as the effectiveness of MSJC 2013 design method is examined using the results obtained thus far.
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