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ResearchUniversity Projects

Dalhousie University

CMDC has worked in collaboration with Yi Liu from Dalhousie University.

Supporting Innovation through Research Partnerships

Work has been conducted on the following project:

Masonry Infill Frames

Project Summary:

Masonry infills are often used in concrete and steel frame buildings as a durable material to separate interior spaces and for exterior walls. If these infills are constructed tight to the surrounding frame elements (columns and beams), then they will have a significant effect on the strength and over-all performance of the building. Whether that effect is positive or negative will depend largely on detailing and the designer’s understanding of this type of construction. Frames with masonry infill constructed tight to surrounding beams and columns is not commonly used in modern Canadian construction, however such infills can have a significant impact on the behaviour (strength and stiffness) of structures that do include them.

Many structures with masonry infilled frames are part of our existing stock of buildings in Canada and it is very important to understand their behaviour when they undergo rehabilitation. Dr. Liu’s research also investigates the development of strategies for designing modern masonry infill construction, including an all-masonry system wherein the beams, columns, and infill are all constructed from concrete block masonry. The project includes advanced computer modeling and analysis techniques as well as testing of infilled frames.

Recent NAMC Articles:

Rahimi R., Liu Y., and Fenton G. (2019, June). “Vectorized and Parallelized Finite Element Method for Modeling Masonry Infilled RC Frames.” In P.B. Dillon & F.S. Fonseca (Eds.), Proceedings of the Thirteenth North American Masonry Conference. Paper presented at the 13th North American Masonry Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah (pp. 1088–1098). Longmont, CO: The Masonry Society.

Nasirikhaneghah E. and Liu Y. (2019, June). “Characteristics of One- and Two-Way Arching Behavior of Masonry Infills Under Out-of-Plane Loading.” In P.B. Dillon & F.S. Fonseca (Eds.), Proceedings of the Thirteenth North American Masonry Conference. Paper presented at the 13th North American Masonry Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah (pp. 612–622). Longmont, CO: The Masonry Society.

Select Journal Articles:

Rahimi, Reza, Yi Liu, and Gordon A. Fenton. “Parallelized finite element modelling of unreinforced concrete masonry infills bounded by reinforced concrete (RC) frames.” Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering 49, no. 4 (2022): 487-501.

Roosta, Soraya, and Yi Liu. “Development of a Macro-Model for concrete masonry infilled frames.” Engineering Structures 257 (2022): 114075.

Nasiri, Ehsan, and Yi Liu. “The out-of-plane behaviour of concrete masonry infills bounded by reinforced concrete frames.” Engineering Structures 184 (2019): 406-420.

Nasiri, Ehsan, and Yi Liu. “Study of arching behaviour and strength of concrete masonry infills under out-of-plane loading.” Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering 46, no. 10 (2019): 896-908.

Nasiri, Ehsan, and Yi Liu. “Development of a detailed 3D FE model for analysis of the in-plane behaviour of masonry infilled concrete frames.” Engineering Structures 143 (2017): 603-616.

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