Experimental and numerical study on the seismic performance of masonry walls

Although it is well known that masonry walls are vulnerable to seismic loadings, they are still widely deployed for dwellings in many countries. Therefore, research on masonry walls has been extensively conducted. However, compared to studies on reinforced concrete or steel structures, research on masonry walls is still insufficient. Thus, in this study, the seismic performances of unreinforced unconfined and confined masonry walls were appraised experimentally. The large-scale confined masonry (CM) wall with toothed tie columns demonstrated 82.7% higher load-carrying capacity and 178.7% larger total dissipated energy than the unconfined masonry (UM) wall. In addition, numerical models for both UM and CM walls were developed using a discrete-finite element modelling (DFEM) with the use of a fracture-energy based interfacial tractionseparation law that was developed employing the user-subroutine VUINTERACTION of ABAQUS. The numerical results were in good agreement with the test results with respect to hysteresis loops and overall behavior, especially rocking behavior of the UM wall. Using the developed numerical models, the effects of the wall-base friction on hysteresis behaviors of UM and CM walls were investigated as a parametric study. The developed numerical models can be deployed for various studies on the seismic performances of UM and CM walls.