Tarek El-Hashimy, Mohamed Ezzeldin, Wael El-Dakhakhni and Michael Tait
Tarek El-Hashimy, Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, AinShams University, Cairo, Egypt, t.hashimy@eng.asu.edu.eg
Mohamed Ezzeldin, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L7, Canada, ezzeldms@mcmaster.ca
Wael El-Dakhakhni, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L7, Canada, eldak@mcmaster.ca
Michael Tait, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L7, Canada, taitm@mcmaster.ca
ABSTRACT
Although boundary elements have been demonstrated to enhance the in-plane performance of reinforced concrete block shear walls under seismic loading, research evaluating their effect on the
walls’ out-of-plane performance (e.g., due to earth pressure, wind loading, or blast loading) is very scarce. As such, current blast standards do not assign unique design requirements or response limits for reinforced concrete block walls with boundary elements due to the limited number of relevant studies published when these standards were originally developed. To address this knowledge gap, an experimental program has been conducted to investigate the out-of-plane performance of four scaled seismically-detailed reinforced concrete block axially loaded walls with boundary elements under quasi-static displacement-controlled cyclic loading. The resistance function of the walls and the corresponding damage sequence, as well as the ductility capacity, were also used to assess the walls’ out-of-plane performances. The experimental results in the current study demonstrated the importance of considering the two-way bending mechanism associated with reinforced concrete block walls with boundary elements when their performance is evaluated under out-of-plane loading demands.
KEYWORDS: boundary elements, experimental resistance functions, out-of-plane, reinforced masonry
