• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.80 no.6
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• pp.689-699
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• 2021

The present study aims to understand the behaviour of low-strength masonry prisms constructed with locally-produced low-strength hollow concrete blocks. Compression tests were conducted on masonry prisms constructed with three different mortar grades of cement-sand ratios of 1:3, 1:4.5 and 1:6 representing strong, moderately strong and weak mortar. Stress-strain curves were generated from the test results for the masonry prisms. The hollow concrete masonry units employed in this study are some of the weakest as compared to other masonry units employed by other researchers. The compressive strengths for masonry prisms with mortar grades 1:3, 1:4.5 and 1:6 are 2.21 MPa, 2.19 MPa and 2.25 MPa respectively. The results indicate that the masonry compressive strength of such low-strength hollow concrete block masonry prisms is not influenced by the mortar strength. Simple relationships to estimate the modulus of elasticity and compressive strength of masonry prisms is also proposed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.709-718
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• 2018

Masonry walls are sometimes removed in buildings to either make new passages or increase the usable space. This may change the loading paths in the structure, and require new beams to transfer the loads which are carried by the masonry walls that are to be removed. One possible method of creating such new beams is to attach steel plates onto part of the existing walls to form a steel plate-masonry composite (SPMC) beam, leading to a new structure with part of the masonry wall supported by a new SPMC beam. This paper presents an experimental investigation into the interaction between the SPMC beam and the masonry wall above. Five SPMC beams supporting a masonry wall were tested to study the influence of parameters including the height-to-span ratio of the masonry wall, height of the beam and thickness of the steel plates. The test results, including failure mode, load-carrying capacity, load-deflection curves and strain distribution, are presented and discussed. It is found that for developing better arching effect in the masonry wall the ratio of the in-plane flexural stiffness of the masonry wall to the flexural stiffness of the SPMC beam must be between 2.8 and 7.1.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Advanced Composite Structures
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.27-32
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• 2014

Since the collapse of historical masonry structures in Europe in the late 1990's, the interests in understanding the long-term effect of masonry under sustained compressive stresses have increased. That requires combining the significance of time-dependent effects of creep with the effect of damage due to overstress to realize the evolution of cracks and then failure in masonry. Meanwhile, composite analysis of masonry columns was proven effective for realizing ultimate strength capacity of masonry column. In this study, a simplified mechanical model with step-by-step in time analysis was proposed to incorporate the interaction of damage and creep to estimate the maximum stress occurred in masonry. It was examined that the interaction of creep and damage in masonry can accelerate the failure of masonry.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.475-485
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• 2022

This paper presents a comparative experimental study on structural behavior of the interlocking masonry walls under in-plane cyclic loading. The main purpose of this study is to increase lateral load-bearing capacities of masonry walls by using interlocking units. The interlocking units were designed by considering failure modes of masonry walls and produced using lightweight foamed concrete. To this end, three masonry walls which are hollow, fully grouted, and reinforced were constructed with interlocking units. Also, a traditional masonry brick wall was built for comparison reasons. The walls were tested under in-plane cyclic loading. Then, structural parameters of the walls such as lateral load bearing and total energy dissipation capacities, ductility, stiffness degradation as well as failure modes obtained from the tests were compared with each other. The results have shown that the walls with the interlocking units have better structural performance than traditional masonry brick walls and they may be used in the construction of low-rise masonry structures in rural areas to improve in-plane structural performance.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.197-207
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• 2013

The seismic performance of school buildings has been a matter of common interest socially and academically. The structural system of the school buildings is representative of the domestic low-rise reinforced concrete moment resisting frames, which apply extensively infills in their masonry walls. The masonry infilled walls are divided into full masonry infill in the transverse direction and partial masonry infill in the longitudinal direction. The masonry infilled walls are usually not included in structural analysis during the design process, but affect significantly the seismic performance because they behave with surrounding frames simultaneously during earthquakes. Many researchers have studied the effect of the masonry infilled walls, but several issues have been missed such as the increase of asymmetry by adding the full masonry infill, the size of the mean strength of the full masonry infill, and short column effect by the partial masonry infill. The issues were analytically investigated and the results showed that they should be checked at least by nonlinear pushover analysis in the seismic performance evaluation process. The results also confirm the weakness of the guideline of Korean Educational Development Institute where the seismic performance is basically assessed without structural analysis.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.563-582
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• 2016

The failure mechanism and maximum collapse load of masonry structures may change significantly under static and dynamic excitations depending on their internal arrangement and material properties. Hence, it is important to understand correctly the nonlinear behavior of masonry structures in order to adequately assess their safety and propose efficient strengthening measures, especially for historical constructions. The discrete element method (DEM) can play an important role in these studies. This paper discusses possible collapse mechanisms and provides a set of parametric analyses by considering the influence of material properties and cross section morphologies on the out of plane strength of masonry walls. Detailed modeling of masonry structures may affect their mechanical strength and displacement capacity. In particular, the structural behavior of stacked and rubble masonry walls, portal frames, simple combinations of masonry piers and arches, and a real structure is discussed using DEM. It is further demonstrated that this structural analysis tool allows obtaining excellent results in the description of the nonlinear behavior of masonry structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.121-135
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• 2014

Stone masonry structures are widely used around the world, but they deteriorate easily, due to low shear strength capacity. Many techniques have been developed to increase the shear strength of stone masonry constructions. The aim of this experimental study was to investigate the performance of stone masonry walls strengthened by metal connectors as an alternative shear reinforcement technique. For this purpose, three new metal connector (clamp) types were developed. The shear strength of the walls was improved by applying these clamps to stone masonry walls. Ten stone masonry walls were structurally tested in diagonal compression. Various parameters regarding the in-plane behavior of strengthening stone masonry walls, including shear strength, failure modes, maximum drift, ductility, and shear modulus, were investigated. Experimentally obtained shear strengths were confirmed by empirical equations. The results of the study suggest that the new clamps developed for the study effectively increased the levels of shear strength and ductility of masonry constructions.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.201-215
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• 1998

The structural behavior of reinforced concrete frame infilled with a masonry wall is investigated by the method of discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA). An interface element is developed and it is incorporated into DDA to analyze the continuous and discontinuous behavior of the masonry structure. The numerical results are compared with previous research and possess satisfactory agreement. Then the structural behavior and stress distribution of a reinforced concrete frame infilled with a masonry wall subjected to a horizontal force are studied. In addition, the justification of equivalent strut is assessed by the distribution of principal stresses. The results show that the behavior of the masonry structure is highly influenced by the failure of mortar. On the basis of the distribution of principal stress of the masonry wall in the reinforced concrete frame, the equivalent strut can be approximately substituted for the masonry wall without separation and opening. However, the application of equivalent strut to the masonry wall with separation and opening needs further study.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.161-169
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• 2017

This study aimed to develop a simple and effective method to facilitate the experimental research on mechanical properties of masonry under biaxial compressive stress. A series of tests on full-scale brick masonry panels under biaxial compression have been performed in limited principal stress ratios oriented at various angles to the bed joints. Failure modes of tested panels were observed and failure features were analyzed to reveal the mechanical behavior of masonry under biaxial compression. Based on the experimental data, the failure curve in terms of two orthotropic principal stresses has been presented and the failure criterion of brick masonry in the form of the tensor polynomial has been established, which indicate that the anisotropy for masonry is closely related to the difference of applied stress as well as the orientation of bed joints. Further, compared with previous failure curves and criteria for masonry, it can be found that the relative strength of mortar and block has a considerable effect on the degree of anisotropy for masonry. The test results demonstrate the validity of the proposed experimental method for the approximation of masonry failure under biaxial compressive stress and provide valuable information used to establish experimentally based methodologies for the improvement of masonry failure criteria.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.173-181
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• 2015

In this study, material tests were performed on the masonry specimens constructed with bricks and mortar used in Korea. The specimens included two types of thickness(0.5B and 1.0B) and physical conditions (good and poor). It was shown that 1.0B specimens have 3.2~1.8 times larger shear strength than 0.5B specimens and shear strength of specimens in poor condition was 66%~38% of those in good condition. Average shear stress of masonry-infills was calculated from previous experimental studies, and relationships with failure mode, material strength of masonry, aspect ratio, and frame-to-infill strength ratio were investigated. In addition, the effects of masonry strength on the seismic performance of a masonry-infilled frame was studied using a simple example building. It can be seen that the obtained average shear stress were considerably higher than the default masonry shear strength recommended by the ASCE 41, and low values the strength of masonry does not guarantee conservative evaluation results due to the early shear failure of frame members.