Experimental Study of the Behavior of Reinforced Masonry Wall Under Cyclic Loading

Bangladesh is situated in a tectonically active region, making it susceptible to earthquakes. Unreinforced masonry structure (URM) is one of Bangladesh's most common structural typologies. Unreinforced masonry load-bearing walls are the main load-resisting elements of URM structures that are often designed to resist only gravity loads. Weakness in resisting lateral forces and the limited ductility capacity of these masonry structures make them more vulnerable to earthquakes. Integrating grouted reinforcement into masonry structures can be a viable solution. In this study, the behavior of reinforced masonry (RM) made of indigenous materials has been observed under cyclic loading to determine whether it can overcome the shortcomings of URM. An experimental laboratory investigation has been carried out to study the in-plane cyclic behavior of reinforced masonry structures, along with a detailed study of load-carrying capacity, stiffness, ductility, and energy dissipation of reinforced masonry structures. In this research, three half-scale reinforced masonry walls and three half-scale unreinforced masonry wall have been constructed with three different cement-to-the sand ratios (1:2, 1:4, and 1:6). All the walls were subjected to lateral cyclic loading applied by a hydraulic jack. This experiment revealed that reinforced masonry walls had 3.4–5.3 times higher ultimate load-carrying capacity and 1.7–3.3 times higher energy absorption capacity than unreinforced masonry walls. Furthermore, RM sustained nine complete cycles, whereas URM failed in the fourth cycle. This data suggested that RM walls exhibited a better seismic response than the URM walls.