NUMERICAL STUDY OF TALL MASONRY CAVITY WALLS SUBJECTED TO ECCENTRIC LOADS

This paper presents the results of the second phase of an ongoing inve stigation into the behavior of tall cavity masonry walls constructed w ith partially grouted and reinforced concrete block wythe and a burnt brick wythe tied together with semirigid shear connectors. In the firs t phase, a test program has been conducted on tall cavity walls under eccentric axial forces. In this phase a nonlinear finite-element analy sis model is developed to simulate the database of existing test resul ts. The model represents all components of the cavity wall, the reinfo rced concrete block backup wythe, the brick wythe, and the shear conne ctors. It accounts for the nonlinear material behavior of all componen ts as well as the large displacement, small strain characteristics of the deformation: The numerical analysis results are successfully compa red with a number of test results. The simulation offers insight into the mode of failure, in particular for walls with high eccentricity ra tios.-That same model is then used to numerically generate an extensiv e database to examine the effect of various wall parameters on wall st iffness and ultimate strength.