Horizontal Stiffness of Confined Masonry Walls

This paper focuses on confined masonry walls. Confined walls are very popular in the seismic regions and are used as the prevention of excessive cracking, displacement and a loss of structural integrity. In terms of structural engineering, confined walls, similarly to walls in conventional buildings with conventional load - bearing wall structure, can function as the structure restraint, and not only the walls under mainly vertical load. This paper presents the original proposition of the algorithm t hat determines stiffness of a single area of the confined wall without openings and with openings, which is based on the S - T (strut - and - tie) method in accordance with European standards EN 1996 - 1 - 1:2010, draft Eurocode 6 (prEN 1996 - 1 - 1:2017), having regard to American standards FEMA 274 and FEMA 306 .