Lateral in-plane seismic response of confined masonry walls: From numerical to backbone models

Abstract

Confined masonry (CM) is a widely used solution for buildings in developing countries and has potential for worldwide application when considering its economic and constructive advantages. Although a large background of experimental testing of CM walls is available, numerical studies are further needed to extend the existing knowledge and derive analytical rules to adopt in design codes. In this work, a parametric numerical study is performed, aimed to characterize the lateral in-plane response of CM walls under different variables and to establish a dataset for comparison of engineering demand parameters, towards the proposal of predictive models. Benchmark walls tested under lateral in-plane loading are used to calibrate a finite element modelling approach for pushover analysis. Based on the results of the parametric study, a formulation and charts are proposed to respectively estimate the lateral resistance and displacement capacity of CM walls with features similar to the ones used as benchmark.