Seismic Assessment of Thin Masonry Retaining Wall

In this paper، using Mononobe & Okabe method، seismic force and its effects on thin masonry retaining wall inside structural frame (Masonry retaining infill) are presented. In this method، retaining wall has been assumed to be rigid and the prevailing failure mode is sliding of wall bed joint or wall rotation around its toe، whereas the prevailing failure mode of masonry retaining infill is usually flexural cracking in middle zone of wall under out of plane seismic force. In this case، the seismic force distribution is important. Accordingly in this paper، a distribution for seismic forces on masonry retaining infill has been proposed. Also with regard to out of plane behavior of masonry retaining infill in terms of strength and acceptance criteria aspect، failure in body of wall due to out of plane loads has been analyzed. Then، the desired seismic rehabilitation method in case of vulnerable masonry retaining infills has been presented and as a practical example، results of the proposed method with the results of numerical software have been controlled. Finally، according to various conditions predicted for masonry retaining infills، Seismic Retrofit solutions are presented for practical applications.