BOURZAM ABDELKRIM1, IKEMOTO TOSHIKAZU2, FUKADA SAIJI2, MIYAJIMA MASAKATSU3

1 Assoc. Prof., Univ. of Scs and Technology, H-Boumediene, Algiers, Civil Engr. Faculty and LBE lab., bourzam@gmail.com.

2 Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Civil Engr., Kanazawa University, Japan, tikemoto@t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp.

3 Prof., Dept. of Civil Engr., Kanazawa University, Japan, miyajima@t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp.

The approach as proposed in this paper is based on predicting the diagonal cracking strength, considered as the shear capacity of the brick panel and an amount of shear coming from the tie-columns due to dowel mechanism. In this type of structural members, tie-columns are used mainly to provide post-cracking deformation capacity by maintaining the integrity of the masonry after diagonal cracking.

Two analytical models (linear and non linear) are used to compute the dowel action coming from longitudinal reinforcements. To access the influence of the two models an experimental study is carried out on a half scale confined brick wall. The general applicability of the proposed approach regarding the maximum lateral resistance was confirmed by a good correlation between experimental data and calculated values which obeys to the linear model.

Keywords: confined masonry, brick wall, tie-columns, dowel action, lateral resistance.