In-Plane Cyclic Testing of Reinforced Concrete Masonry Walls to Assess the Effect of Varying Reinforcement Anchorage and Boundary Conditions

Abstract

The design of reinforced masonry walls for in-plane shear according to the current Canadian masonry standard CSA S304.1 is quite conservative. So an extensive experimental program was designed to observe the quasi-static performance of partially grouted reinforced masonry walls with variable parameters. The experimental program described in this dissertation is a portion of the larger experimental program and the focus here is on the anchorage conditions of the bond beam reinforcement, changes in boundary conditions and changes in the loading protocol for walls that have the same vertical reinforcement and grouting. The predominant mode of failure was diagonal shear for all walls. The crack pattern, stiffness reduction, strength, ductility and energy absorption are the properties that are discussed in the thesis. Some aspects of behaviour of the walls such as crack pattern, stiffness degradation, and energy dissipation are affected by the change in parameters.