Lateral Strength of Confined Masonry Walls

Unreinforced masonry system was a conventional form of construction in rural areas in worldwide countries in last decades. The main advantage of using this system is that it is cheaper than other building systems such as reinforced concrete or steel. Iranian seismic code proposes masonry walls confined by reinforce concrete or wooden ties. This building type called confined masonry is very common in Iranian construction but code provisions regarding this have not improved during recent years and are very similar to the old provisions proposed for unconfined masonry buildings. In this study, the specifications of confined masonry buildings are described. Then some equations proposed by different codes to estimate the lateral resistance of masonry walls are reviewed. An equation is proposed to estimate the lateral strength of confined masonry walls designed and built according to the Iranian codes. The proposed equation then is validated with the results of the tests the authors conducted on seven confined masonry walls.