Diagonal Bending of Unreinforced Clay Brick Masonry
Author

M C GRIFFITH (1), S J LAWRENCE (2) and C R WILLIS (3)

(1) The University of Adelaide

(2) SPL Consulting Pty Ltd and The University of Newcastle

(3) Connell Wagner Pty Ltd, Adelaide
Abstract

This paper presents the results of a theoretical and experimental investigation into the behaviour of unreinforced brick masonry (URM) walls subject to biaxial bending, with particular emphasis on the flexural behaviour along a diagonal crack line. A mathematical model was developed to predict the diagonal bending moment capacity, Md, contributing to a wall’s ultimate strength in biaxial bending. The improved accuracy of the new expression for Md was established by first comparing its predictions and those of current design code expressions to data from diagonal bending experiments conducted by the authors on small wall specimens. The resulting expression for diagonal bending represents a major improvement over current expressions in that it is dimensionally correct and accounts for the beneficial effect of compressive stress. The improved expression has also been shown to give excellent predictions of the bending strength for 64 full-scale wall panels in biaxial bending using the virtual work method.