High-Strength Concrete Masonry Walls under Concentric and Eccentric Loadings

Masonry walls and columns are common structural members that typically resist compressive loads, with a number of such members being required to resist combined axial load and out-of-plane bending due to direct out-of-plane loads or an eccentricity of the axial compressive load. Flexural compression strength is usually greater than axial compression strength, and a reasonable experimental data set supports this assertion. However, little information exists for high-strength concrete block masonry subjected to combined axial and flexural loadings. This paper presents axial and flexural compression strengths and deformation properties of high-strength concrete block masonry. Seventy-two masonry prisms were constructed and tested to evaluate the capacity and behavior of high-strength structural masonry subject to compressive concentric and eccentric loading; both grouted and hollow prisms were used. Block strengths of 44, 56, and 67MPa are considered. The results show an increase of flexural compression strength of 15-29% for the hollow prisms and of 70-79% for the grouted prisms compared with their axial compression strength. Measured ultimate strain varies from 0.14 to 0.19% for the axial compression and from 0.20 to 0.25% for the flexural compression. Hollow prism strength varies from 52 to 62% of the block strength, whereas grouted prism strength varies from 43 to 59% of the block strength. (c) 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.