Grant: Alliance Grants

The masonry construction industry represents a substantial portion of both existing and new residential, commercial and industrial low- to medium-rise structures across Canada. Reinforced Concrete Masonry (RCM) structural walls constructed with concrete block units are an effective seismic force-resisting system that provides lateral strength, stiffness, and energy dissipation capacity required to resist lateral loads arising from earthquakes or high wind. The economical and resilient seismic design of RCM buildings in regions with moderate seismicity requires special considerations of the detailing of the seismic force-resisting walls for sufficient ductility and energy dissipation capacity under the design level ground motion. The main objective of this proposal is to develop seismic-resilient lateral force resisting systems for masonry buildings in low to moderate seismicity regions. The intent is to enhance the current detailing practices of partially grouted RCM shear walls, and improve their seismic performance and resilience. The research focus areas include the following: (1) experimental investigation of the enhancement in seismic performance parameters of scaled models of planar and non-planar partially grouted RCM shear walls with varying design detailing and configurations; (2) development, calibration, and validation of detailed numerical models to simulate the nonlinear response of partially grouted RCM shear walls; (3) numerical parametric studies to quantify the effects of different design parameters; (4) evaluation of the system-level response when utilizing partially grouted RCM walls with the enhanced configurations and detailing; and (5) quantification of the enhancements in seismic-resilience of the proposed partially grouted masonry building system.In addition to enhancing seismic hazard safety in Canada, the proposed research will generate new and complementary experimental and analytical fundamental knowledge, practical advancements, code design provisions and prescriptive detailing requirements, as well as training of HQP, which will have significant impact for the multi-billion-dollar masonry manufacturing, design, and construction industries in Canada.