A. Sparling^1, D. Palermo¹, and F. Hashemian¹
1)  Department of Civil Engineering, York University
4700 Keele St., Toronto (Canada)
e-mail: {adriensp, dan.palermo, fariborz.khaleghihashemian}@pc.gc.ca

Keywords: Masonry wall, Concrete unit masonry, Near-surface mounted reinforcement, Out-of-plane flexure, Finite element analysis.

Abstract. Since its inception, Near-Surface Mounted (NSM) reinforcement has been primarily used to retrofit existing structures. However, NSM is becoming an attractive technique for new masonry construction since the reinforcing materials are placed near the extreme tension fibre. NSM reinforcement provides the mechanical advantage of placing reinforcing materials near the surface, whereas in conventional construction the reinforcement is located near the out-of-plane neutral axis. NSM-reinforced walls exhibit higher stiffness and ductility than conventional reinforced walls, making them more suitable for the construction of tall walls where P-Δ effects severely restrict the capacity of conventionally-reinforced walls.
A series of masonry walls measuring 1.2m long and 3.2m tall were built from a single-wythe of 190mm, 15MPa hollow concrete blocks. Two walls are reinforced with NSM reinforcement, while two control walls are conventionally reinforced. Each wall has the same gross reinforcement ratio of 0.25%. The simply supported walls will be loaded in the out-of-plane direction at the 1/3rd points along the height until failure. This paper outlines the results from testing the component materials of the walls as well as a complementary study of the effect of the material properties on flexural behaviour using non-linear, 3-D finite element analysis.