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Nemanja Krtinić, Matija Gams and Marko Marinković

i PhD student, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, nkrtinic@fgg.uni-lj.si

ii Associate Professor, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, mgams@fgg.uni-lj.si

iii Assistant Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia, mmarinkovic@grf.bg.ac.rs

ABSTRACT

Confined masonry (CM) is one of the popular structural systems embraced by many countries as an earthquake-resistant and affordable solution for building construction. Despite this, there are still gaps in the knowledge about seismic response. This paper presents a comprehensive numerical investigation into the seismic response of CM walls with openings, utilizing a micro-modelling approach in Abaqus software. A finite element (FE) model, validated on two cyclic shear tests of full-scale CM wall specimens, is employed for a parametric study exploring the effects of varying wall aspect ratios and opening configurations (no opening, door opening, window opening). The primary objective is to examine the influence of opening size and on the lateral resistance of CM walls, focusing on in-plane behavior, stiffness, strength, and ductility. The results from the numerical simulations demonstrate that the presence of tie-columns around openings and shape of the openings significantly affect the seismic performance of CM walls. As the opening size increases, the strength reduction becomes more evident, with walls having AR = 0.71 showing a substantial decrease in load-bearing capacity due to the amplified effect of larger openings. Furthermore, the size of tie-columns around openings is recognized as crucial in mitigating strength losses. These findings underscore the necessity of further experimental tests to fully validate these conclusions.

KEYWORDS: confined masonry, numerical simulation, micro-modelling, Abaqus, window opening, door opening.

146-Krtinic.pdf

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