Cyclic Performance of Concrete-Backed Stone Masonry Walls

Abstract

The seismic performance of concrete-backed stone masonry walls subject to cyclic load is experimentally evaluated. Six 1/3-scale, single-story, single-bay wall samples were tested. Three of these samples were constructed using an old construction method and the other three were constructed using a new construction method. The influence of the type of construction, applied vertical loads, and existence of dowels between the infill concrete panel and the base on the lateral resistance, ductility, energy-dissipation, stiffness degradation, and failure mechanisms were investigated. The experimental results indicate that an increase in the applied vertical load resulted in a substantial increase in both the lateral strength and stiffness of the tested samples. The type of construction had no influence on the ultimate lateral load resistance. The existence of the dowels caused the diagonal cracks to be shifted upward far from the base. Also, the dowels gave a better distribution and smaller widths for these diagonal cracks. The failure mechanisms of all concrete-backed stone masonry walls were dominated by diagonal shear cracks.