Experimental and Analytical Study of Masonry Infilled Frames

Abstract

The structural behavior of a framed masonry wall subjected to in-plane monotonic loading is investigated by a full-scale test and the method of discontinuous deformation analysis. The concept of artificial joints is adopted to refine discontinuous deformation analysis so that it can analyze both continuous and discontinuous behavior of the masonry structure. The numerical solutions are compared with experimental results. A satisfactory agreement is obtained. The structural behavior and stress distributions of the framed masonry wall show that the characteristics of the masonry structure is highly influenced by the failure of mortar. In addition, the filled masonry wall affects dominantly the behavior of the framed masonry structure. The partially filled masonry wall induces a short column effect and leads to a severe failure of the column. On the other hand, the completely filled masonry wall increases the stiffness of the structure and the adjacent column fails in the configuration of nearly uniform cracks.