- Title
- Development of confined semi-Interlocking masonry system for improved earthquake performance
- Creator
- Hemmat, Mehdi
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- Please select.. - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Confined masonry (CM) is a construction method for earthquake-resistant masonry buildings. Being simple and practical has made confined masonry very popular for residential buildings in many developing countries in Latin America, Asia, and Southern Europe. In a CM wall, vertical and horizontal confining elements (usually made of reinforced concrete) enclose the masonry panel to improve the overall integrity of the wall. The proven advantages of confined masonry over unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings have been observed in recent earthquakes. While traditional massive masonry buildings were often devastated, the majority of confined masonry buildings were able to withstand earthquake forces with minimum damage. Meanwhile, the behaviour of confined masonry buildings continues to be improved through the use of innovative, efficient and practical solutions. Semi-Interlocking Masonry (SIM) is an innovative masonry system that has been developed in the Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability at The University of Newcastle. The concept is based on mortar-less masonry in which mortar is eliminated from its body (Totoev, 2010). The aim of developing SIM is to improve the earthquake performance of framed structures. The unique feature of SIM is its ability to dissipate earthquake energy due to friction on the sliding joints between rows (courses) of units. In this system, specially shaped bricks (SIM units) are interlocked with each other in such a way that SIM unit rows can slide in-plane of the wall while being fixed against relative out-of-plane movements (Totoev and Al Harthy, 2016). The ability of SIM to increase energy dissipation during an earthquake has suggested the possibility of combining SIM with other earthquake-resistant masonry systems. In addition, the simplicity of working with SIM accelerates masonry work and makes it easier. The SIM walls are designed to be simply assembled due to the elimination of mortar. SIM has never been used in a confined masonry system; however, the excellent energy dissipation capacity of SIM as an infill masonry panel has been shown in laboratory tests (Lin et al., 2011, Totoev and Lin, 2012, Totoev and Wang, 2013), suggesting that it could be a good idea to combine the SIM system with a confined masonry wall system. This innovation is proposed to take advantage of both systems in order to present an improved earthquake-resistant masonry system. As the proposed masonry system possesses the features of confined masonry and semi-interlocking masonry, I call it confined semi-interlocking masonry (confined SIM or CSIM) system. It is hypothesized that the CSIM system might be proposed as a suitable structural system for masonry buildings in developing countries with significant seismic hazards. CSIM, as a new masonry system for buildings, should be studied thoroughly in terms of its structural capacity and the earthquake performance. This study aims to develop the confined semi-interlocking masonry (CSIM) system and study the in-plane behaviour of this system. Initially, an analytical design procedure together with a simple construction guideline is proposed for the CSIM system. Following this, a new testing protocol is proposed to measure the mechanical properties (the compressive strength and the Young’s modulus) of SIM prisms. Numerical approaches, including micro-modelling and macro-modelling, are developed to simulate CSIM walls and CSIM buildings. Parametric studies are also performed to assess the structural capacity of CSIM walls using the micro-modelling approach. The effect of shear toothing, aspect ratio, vertical load, number of tie-columns, and openings are major variable parameters considered in the numerical models used to assess the structural capacity of CSIM walls. To investigate the seismic performance of CSIM buildings, a new macro-model using a semi-active damper device is proposed to simulate CSIM buildings. Finally, an experimental test is designed to study the in-plane behaviour of a full-scale CSIM wall subjected to in-plane cyclic displacements.
- Subject
- interlocking masonry; earthquake performance; residential buildings; unreinforced masonry
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1509537
- Identifier
- uon:56256
- Rights
- Copyright 2021 Mehdi Hemmat
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
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| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 26 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 624 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |