ANALYTICAL FORMULATION OF THE LINEAR BEHAVIOR OF A CONFINED MASONRY WALL BASED ON ELASTIC DEFORMATION ENERGY AND TRANSFORMED SECTION

Abstract

The use of confined masonry walls in buildings of normal occupation continues to rise, while its structural behavior continues to be studied. Understanding their performance in the elastic and inelastic range is essential to ensure that structures adequately withstand seismic demands. This research develops an analytical methodology to evaluate the lateral stiffness of a confined masonry wall, taking as reference the specimen M-0-E6, tested on a real scale quasi-static way by the National Center for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED), from which the experimental values of stiffness were obtained for the cycles of positive (K⁺) and negative load (K⁻). The analytical method is based on strain energy, material mechanics and the transformed section method to estimate lateral stiffness and stress and deformation distribution in the linear range. The results are compared with the finite element method (FEM) developed in Abaqus/CAE and experimental data. The analytical formulation adequately reproduced the initial stiffness, with differences of 7.1 % with respect to the FEM model, 1.3 % with respect to K⁻ and 13 % with respect to K⁺. In addition, confinement increased stiffness by 158 % according to the analytical model and by 181 % according to the FEM model, confirming its determining role in the linear behavior of the wall.