Masonry Structures under lateral

loads
1. Performance of masonry structures in lateral loads.
2. Failure behavior of masonry structure under lateral
loads.
3. In-plane and out-of-plane behavior of masonry
structures.
4. Ductile behavior of Reinforced and Unreinforced
masonry structures.
5. Calculation of stresses for lateral loads.
6. Elements of lateral load resisting masonry
structures.
 PERFORMANCE OF MASONRY STRUCTURES IN LATERAL
LOADS
 Unreinforced masonry structures are the most vulnerable
when subjected to lateral loads, especially during an
earthquake.
 Under the action of lateral load, the walls develop shear
and flexural stresses.
 The strength of masonry under these conditions often
depends on the bond between brick and mortar ( or stone
and mortar), which is quite poor.
 It is always useful to investigate the behavior of masonry
buildings after an earthquake, so as to identify any
inadequacies in earthquake-resistant design.
 Lateral load may be applied as either :

 Wind load
 Because of wind load, the
portion of the wall
undergoes out-of-plane
bending

 Earthquake or seismic load

 Seismic load may act along both
the transverse and lateral
direction
 Two problems need to be cosidered in designing for
lateral load
1. Overall stability of the building

2. Strength of individual
wall panel with respect to
bending and shear
DIFFERENT WALLS SUBJECTED TO LATERAL LOAD
 Free standing wall:
 Free standing wall is acted upon by the wind force
which tends to overturn it.
 This tendency to overturn is resisted by gravity force
due to the self-weight of the wall and also by a
flexural moment of resistance on account of the tensile
strength of masonry.
 Masonry panel wall:
 Walls encased in concrete frames behaved as
monolithic elements for small lateral loads until
separation occurred in the lower tensile corner and in
the opposite corner.
 Reinforced masonry wall:
 Reinforced wall can show plastic properties under the
application of lateral load because along the tensile face
of a wall the load is resisted by reinforcement bars
 Ductile behavior of the masonry structure is enhanced by
the application of reinforcement bars
 Reinforced masonry wall resist lateral load as a shear
wall
 Energy dissipation capacity of the structure is increased
because of the reinforcement in masonry
 If reinforcement mesh or bars are embedded in the bed
joint, the bond strength of the brickwork will increase
which increases the horizontal shear resistance capacity
of the structure.
9.2 FAILURE BEHAVIOR OF MASONRY STRUCTURES IN
LATERAL LOADS

 Unreinforced masonry structures are so much brittle in

nature and are very weak in resisting the lateral load
beyond the elastic limit.

 Linear elastic behavior has to be considered for the

analysis of seismic effects

 The material subjected to lateral loads could be

subjected to a complex stress state that produces
failure by reaching the tensile strength of the block or,
even, mortar crushing.
FAILURE MODES OF MASONRY BUILDINGS ARE :

 Out of plane failure

 In plane failure
 Diaphragm failure
 Connection Failure
 Failure due to opening of wall
 Pounding
 Non-structural component failure
❑The Earthquake force is
perpendicular to the plane.
❑The wall tends to overturn or bend.
❑This causes the partial or full
collapse of the wall.
❑This is due to Inadequate anchorage of
wall and roof , long and slender wall,
etc.
❑Characterized by vertical cracks at
corner, cracks at lintel, roof level and
gable wall, etc.
❑The Earthquake force is parallel to the plane
❑The wall is shear off or bend
❑X- cracks occurs
❑Characterized by vertical cracks at wall intersection,
separation of corners of two walls, spalling of
materials, etc
▪ Lack of anchoring produce a push of diaphragm against the
wall.
▪ Absence of good shear transfer between diaphragms and
reaction wall accounts for damage at corner of wall
▪ Rare phenomenon in the event of seismic motion
▪ Separation of wall and diaphragm cause collapse of buildings
▪ For given direction of earthquake, wall A acts as a shear
wall and B acts as flexure wall.
▪ If the walls are not tied together wall B overturn (out of
olane) and wall A slides (in plane) and collapse occurs.
▪ Masonry units should tied properly
▪ Opening will obstruct the flow of forces from one wall to
another.
▪ Large opening in shear wall reduces the strength of wall
against the inertia forces.
▪ Results diagonal cracks in the areas of masonry between
opening and cracks at the level of opening.
▪ Thus, openings should small and away from corners.
▪ When the roofs of two adjacent buildings are at different
levels, during earthquake, two buildings strike against each
other is called pounding.
▪ Pounding results into cracking of the wall.
 Non Structural components failure

▪ Falling of plaster from walls and ceiling.

▪ Cracking and overturning of parapets,
chimneys, etc.
▪ Cracking and overturning of partition walls.
▪ Cracking of glasses.
▪ Falling of loosely placed objects.
 The failure of the masonry structure is due to any of the
following reasons:
 Inadequate brick unit
 Poor mortar
 Irregularity in plane and vertical direction
 Weak load bearing walls
 Lack of vertical confining elements
 Weak out-of-plane response
 Unconfined wall corners
 Weak first storey
 Cantilever elements
 Typical types of failure of masonry structures
Diagonal shear cracks

Diagonal cracks in masonry

walls occur when the tensile

stresses developed in the wall
under a combination of
vertical and lateral loads,
exceed the tensile strength of
the masonry material.
Horizontal shear cracks
When the masonry wall is
subjected to large amount of
vertical forces and the transverse
forces, they cause the buckling
and bending of the masonry
structure especially the free
standing masonry wall

Plane of failure is parallel to the

bed joint or along the bed joint.
Bending or flexural cracks
Flexural cracks on the
sides of masonry start at
the tension face and will
extend, at most, up to the
neutral axis.

Crack widths will be

greatest at the tension
face and will reduce with
distance from that face.
Sliding shear failure
 It results in a building sliding off its foundation or on
one of the horizontal mortar joints. It is caused by
low vertical load, high lateral load and poor mortar
joint.
Crushing of masonry elements:
Crushing failure of masonry element occurs due to the
high concentrated compressive load over the wall.
9.3 IN-PLANE AND OUT OF PLANE BEHAVIOR OF MASONRY
WALL
Along the direction of the plane of a wall the
stiffness of the masonry is very much high as
compared to that in an out-of-plane direction.

Out of plane loading In- plane loading

9.3 IN-PLANE AND OUT OF PLANE BEHAVIOR OF MASONRY
WALL
Failure of masonry structure along in plane direction
may be because of :
Sliding shear failure
Horizontal shear failure or
Diagonal tension failure
Bending

In- plane loading

Out of plane loading
Failure of masonry structure along out of plane
direction may be because of :
Bending
Horizontal joint cracking
Vertical joint cracking
 Overturning
9.4 DUCTILITY BEHAVIOR OF REINFORCED AND UN-REINFORCED
MASONRY STRUCTURE
Unreinforced masonry
Ductile property of the masonry element depends upon the elasto-
plastic behavior individual materials of that element.
Structures of unreinforced masonry have a completely brittle type
of failure and linear elastic behavior has to be considered for the
analysis of seismic effects
Because the unreinforced masonry has very low ductile property
the failure of structure under excessive tensile force will be
instantaneous
Main causes of in-plane and out-of-plane failure of unreinforced
masonry is because of the brittle property of masonry structure
9.4 DUCTILITY BEHAVIOR OF REINFORCED AND UNREINFORCED
MASONRY STRUCTURE

Reinforced masonry
Reinforcement bars are mainly introduced in the
masonry to improve its ductile property.
Due to the ductile property of the reinforced masonry
structure it can resist the seismic as well as wind load
more than that resisted by unreinforced masonry.
Reinforcement in masonry also provides the
interlocking or anchorage in the masonry joints which
improves the joint strength of the different masonry
structures under lateral loads .
 Tie beam
 Anchorage with walls
 Shear wall
 Anchorage between slabs and
walls
 Sill band
 Lintel bands
 Roof bands
 Gable bands
 Corner bands
Corner stitch
Sill band
Lintel band
Shear walls
Roof band
Gable band
Anchorage system
Calculation of stresses for lateral loads:

Codal provisions for lateral loads (IS 1905-1987)

Stability - A wall or column subjected to vertical and lateral loads may be considered to be provided with
adequate lateral support from consideration of stability, if the construction providing the support is capable
of resisting the following forces:
i. Simple static reactions at the point of lateral support to all the lateral loads
+
ii 2.5 % of the total vertical load that the wall or column is designed to carry at the point of lateral
support.)

In case of load bearing buildings up to four storeys, stability requirements of stability may be deemed to have been
met with if:

a) Height to width ratio of building does not exceed 2;

b) cross walls acting as stiffening walls continuous from outer wall to outer wall or outer wall to a load
bearing inner wall, and of thickness and spacing as given in Table 2 (IS 1905-1987) are provided. If
stiffening wall or walls that are in a line, are interrupted by openings, length of solid wall or walls
in the zone of the wall that is to be stiffened shall be at least one-fifth of height of the opening.
 c) floors and roof either bear on cross walls or are anchored to those
walls as in given IS 1905-1987 such that all lateral loads are safely
transmitted to those walls and through them to the foundation; and
d) Cross walls are built jointly with the bearing walls and are jointly
mortared, or the two interconnected by toothing. Alternatively, cross
walls may be anchored to walls to be supported by ties of non-
corrodible metal of minimum section 6 x 35 mm and length 60 cm
with ends bent up at least 5 cm; maximum vertical spacing of ties
being 1.2 m ( see Fig. 9; IS 1905-1987).
In case of halls exceeding 8.0 m in length safety and adequacy of lateral
supports shall always be checked by structural analysis.
 Design of Masonry Structure:

 Capacity of a cross wall, also called shear wall, sometimes to take

horizontal loads and consequent bending moments, increases when
parts of bearing walls act as flanges to the cross wall.
 Maximum overhanging length of bearing wall which could
effectively function as a flange should be taken as 12 t or H/6,
whichever is less in case of T/I shaped walls and 6 t or H/16,
whichever is less, in case of I/U shaped walls, where t is the
thickness of bearing wall and H is the total height of wall above
the level being considered as shown in Fig. 10 (IS 1905-1987).
External walls of basement and plinth:-
In case of external walls of basement and plinth stability requirements of stability above
descibe may be deemed to have been met with if:
a)bricks used in basement and plinth have a minimum crushing strength of 5 N/mm2
and mortar used in masonry is of Grade Ml or better;
b)clear height of ceiling in basement does not exceed 2.6 m;
c) walls are stiffened according to provisions of as describe above;
d)in the zone of action of soil pressure on basement walls, traffic load excluding any
surcharge due to adjoining buildings does not exceed 5 kN/m2 and terrain does not
rise; and
e) Minimum thickness of basement walls is in accordance with Table 3 (IS 1905-1987).
NOTE - In case there is surcharge on basement walls from adjoining buildings, thickness
of basement walls shall be based on structural analysis.
 Walls mainly subjected to lateral loads:

Free-standing wall:
 A free-standing wall such as compound wall or parapet wall is acted upon by wind
force which tends to overturn it.
 This tendency to overturning is resisted by gravity force due to self-weight of wall,
and also by flexural moment of resistance on account of tensile strength of masonry.
 Free-standing walls shall thus be designed as in describe IS 1905-1987.
 If mortar used for masonry cannot be relied upon for taking flexural tension, stability
of free-standing wall shall be ensured such that stability moment of wall due to self-
weight equals or exceeds 1.5 times the overturning moment.
Retaining wall:
 Stability for retaining walls shall normally be achieved through gravity action but
flexural moment of resistance could also be taken advantage of under special
circumstances at the discretion of the designer.
Permissible Tensile Stress:
As a general rule, design of masonry shall be based on the assumption that masonry
is not capable of taking any tension.
However, in case of lateral loads normal to the plane of wall, which causes flexural
tensile stress, as for example, panel, curtain partition and free-standing walls,
flexural tensile stresses as follows may be permitted in the design for masonry:
Grade Ml or better:
 0.07 N/mm2 for bending in mortar the vertical direction where tension developed
is normal to bed joints.
 0.14 N/mm2 for bending in the longitudinal direction where tension developed is
parallel to bed joints, provided crushing strength of masonry units is not less than
10 N/mm2.
Permissible Tensile Stress:
Grade M2 mortar:-
0.05 N/mm2 for bending in the vertical direction where tension
developed is normal bed joints.
0.10 N/mm2 for bending in the longitudinal direction where tension
developed is parallel to bed joints, provided crushing strength of
masonry units is not less than 7.5 N/mm2.
NOTE 1 - NO tensile stress is permitted in masonry in case of water-
retaining structures in view of water in contact with masonry. Also no
tensile stress is permitted in earth-retaining structures in view of the
possibility of presence of water at the back of such walls.
 NOTE 2- Allowable tensile stress in bending in the vertical direction may be increased to 0.1
N/mm2 for Ml mortar and 0.07 N/mm2 for M2 mortar in case of boundary walls/compound
walls at the discretion of the designer.

Permissible Shear Stress:-

In case of walls built in mortar not leaner than Grade Ml (see Table 1, IS 1905-
1987) and resisting horizontal forces in the plane of the wall, permissible shear
stress, calculated on the area of bed joint, shall not exceed the value obtained by
the formula given below, subject to a maximum of 0.5 N/mm2.

Where,
= permissible shear stress in N/mm2, and
fd = compressive stress due to dead loads in N/mm2

If there is tension in any part of a section of masonry, the area under tension
shall be ignored while working out shear stress on the section.
Seismic Zoning in Nepal (NBC 109)
The variation in seismic hazard with location in Nepal is defined
for design purposes in Figure 8.2 of NBC105-94 Seismic Design of
Buildings in Nepal. For the purpose of the design of unreinforced
masonry, a simplified zonation based on this figure shall be used.
Design of Masonry Structure:

Seismic Zones for Unreinforced Masonry Design (NBC 109, 1994)

Design of walls subjected to transverse load:
Wall subjected to transverse load are:
1)Load bearing walls
2)Free standing walls
3)Panel walls
4)Curtain walls
In case of free standing wall it is subjected to overturning moment due to wind
pressure. In design check for stability against overturning is done.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐅. 𝐒. =
𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

F.S. is normally taken 1.5 to 2.0

Design of Masonry Structure:
The design of free
standing wall should
check.
compressive stress
within limits
tensile stress within
limits
stability against
overturning
bearing pressure on
the soil to be within
permissible limits

BBD_Masonry
Design of shear wall (lateral load)
Horizontal load parallel to the plane of wall acts due to the following loads
1)Seismic loading, horizontal and in plane of wall.
2)Wind loading on exterior wall transmitted to cross wall supporting it.
The cross wall and stiffening wall acts as a shear wall. In case of earthquake,
the cross wall is very useful in transmitting the seismic load to the foundation.
The shear wall designed to resists the following forces:
1) Vertical loads
2) Shear force
3) Bending moment
4) Overturning moment
Shear force:
The lateral force causes a shear between the adjacent layers of bricks. This shear is resisted
by the horizontal mortar bed joint between two layers or diagonal tension in the masonry.
𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝑭
𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 = = =
𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑨

Where,
f = Compressive stress due to axial loads
τ = Allowable shear stress on plain mortar usually taken equal to 0.1 N/mm2
μ = frictional coefficient
FS = Factor of safety
= is usually taken = 1/6
Bending moment:
This is caused by the bending action of the lateral force. BM is maximum at the bottom of
wall.

Where,
Fi = ith lateral force
hi = height of force
Now maximum compressive stress

Where,
L= length & I = moment of inertia of wall.
Overturning moment: Design criteria for shear, compressive and tensile stress at
base.
Lateral force causes the overturning of
wall at toe. Shear stress: 𝝉 < 𝝉 𝒂𝒄

Overturning moment at toe 𝒇𝒄𝒂

𝝉 < 𝟎. 𝟏 +
= 𝟔
Maximum compressive stress:
The stabilizing moment at toe = 𝒇 ≤𝒇 +𝒇
𝒄 𝒄𝒃 𝒄𝒌

This is similar to wall under eccentric loading case.

For stability, 𝒇𝒄 ≤ 𝟏, 𝟐𝟓 𝒇𝒂𝒄 = 𝟏. 𝟐𝟓 𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒄𝒌

The compressive stress can exceed the permissible value by 25
Compressive stress by vertical load
percent if excess is solely due to bending.
Maximum tensile stress developed:
𝒇𝒕 = 𝒇𝒄𝒃 − 𝒇𝒄𝒂
W = total vertical load on the base. It is assumed that masonry can resist only marginal tension:
𝒇𝒕 = 𝒇𝒄𝒃 𝒇𝒄𝒂 < 𝒇𝒂𝒕
 Example 1: Design an exterior wall of a single storey warehouse of 3.5m
height. The vertical load on wall is 30 kN/m from the roof and wind pressure of
1000 N/m2. The wall is tied with metal anchor at the floor and roof levels.

Solution:
Let the thickness of wall = 230mm
Load from roof = 30 kN/m
Self-weight of wall = 0.23*20*3.5 = 16.10 kN/m
Total load (W) = 46.10 kN/m
∗ .
Bending moment (M) =
H= height of wall
P = wind pressure
 The wall is assumed partially constrained at both end. BM taken as critical at
base and at the mid height.
Cross sectional area (A) = 230*1000 = 230000 mm2
∗
Section modulus (Z) =

Compressive stress (fc) =

.

Total tensile stress becomes critical at mid height which is

Now, W = axial compression due to superimposed load + self-weight/2
.
= 30 + = 38.05 kN/m

 This is compressive stress

Find Permissible Stress (fal) = fb x ka x ks x kp
Stress Reduction Factor Ks
Effective height is equal to actual height because partial restraints are
provided at the top and bottom(table 4).

Effective height (heff) = 3500 mm

Effective thickness (teff) = 230 mm

Hence,
Equivalent eccentricity = = 26.57 mm,
Where “w” is total axial load.
Now from IS code 1905-1987, table 9 page 16,
For SR = 26.57 & = 0.115

Stress reduction factor (ks) =

Select brick units compressive stress = 10 MPa & M1 type mortar. From
IS code 1905-1987, table 8 page 16
Basic compressive stress (fck) = 0.96 N/mm2
Permissible stress due to axial load (fac) = ks * fck = 0.657 * 0.96 = 0.63
N/mm2 >
Combined compressive stress axial and bending (facb) = 1.25* ks * fck =
1.25*0.657*.96
= 0.788 N/mm2 >
Hence, safe.
Assignment 4: Design an exterior wall of a single-storey
warehouse of 3.45m height. The vertical load on wall is 40
kN/m from the roof and wind pressure of 800 N/m2. The wall
is tied with metal anchor at the floor and roof levels.

BBD_Masonry