Effect of Uncertainty of Tensile Strength of Mortar Joints on the Behavior of Masonry Walls under Lateral Loads
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 2
Abstract
Analyzing the behavior of a masonry structure is a complex issue due to the complicated nature of masonry. Moreover, random spatial variation of masonry properties due to workmanship quality makes the prediction of its behavior even harder. This paper studies the effect of random spatial variability of mortar joint properties on the lateral strength of masonry walls under in-plane loads. Tensile strength of mortar joints is considered a random variable whose variation represents different quality of workmanship. Using a 3D nonlinear FE model, the influence of the random spatial variability of bed joint and head joint properties on the performance of unreinforced masonry walls is investigated. Results show the considerable effect of random spatial variability of bed joint properties on the performance of masonry walls under in-plane loads, while similar variation in head joint properties has a negligible effect on the wall response. The influence of correlation in bed joint properties on the wall strength is evaluated through a parametric analysis. Findings reveal that increasing the correlation of bed joint properties has a harmful effect on the lateral strength of unreinforced masonry walls with fair and poor workmanship quality.
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Acknowledgments
The first author would like to thank Professor Arezou Modaressi from Ecole Centrale Paris for providing access to the GEFDyn software for numerical modeling of the unreinforced masonry wall.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 2 • February 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 3, 2015
Accepted: Jul 13, 2016
Published online: Sep 2, 2016
Published in print: Feb 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Feb 2, 2017
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