| Summary: | Seismic design provisions in the Canadian Masonry Code often lead to indications that the governing yield mechanism for a reinforced masonry wall with a height/length (H/L) ratio below 1.0 and under low axial loads will not achieve the design objective of a flexural yield mechanism and instead, will develop a sliding shear mechanism. In addition to this, results of previous experimental research studies indicate that even for squat walls that yield in flexure, the displacements at the top are the result of both flexure and sliding shear mechanisms. Currently, there is a limited understanding on how sliding shear displacements develop and how they affect the response of a building. The following work sets out to study the sliding shear mechanism and to develop tools for determining the corresponding displacements for seismic design. This study proposes to modify the current definition for a sliding shear mechanism, re-classifying yield mechanisms of Reinforced Masonry (RM) walls with sliding displacements into three separate mechanisms: sliding shear (SS) mechanism, dowel-constrained failure (DCF) mechanism and combined flexural-sliding shear (CFSS) mechanism. In addition, a 2D analytical model is developed and calibrated in this study using the experimental test results of wall specimens with recorded sliding shear displacements. This calibrated model simulates sliding in RM walls based on the effects of frictional resistance, dowel action and flexural hinging, which will be the basis for a procedure that can estimate sliding displacements in an RM wall design. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Civil Engineering, Department of === Graduate
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