NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE TIE BEAM EFFECT IN BRICK WALLS

Brick walls are load-bearing elements commonly found in historical and traditional structures. The behaviour and capacity of these structures under seismic effects must be investigated from various perspectives. Numerous studies exist in the literature to determine the in-plane behaviour of brick walls under different conditions. However, there has been insufficient research on timber tie beams, which are frequently used in wall construction and form part of the load-bearing structure. In this context, a numerical study was conducted to determine the effect of different tie beam configurations on the structural behaviour of brick walls and to address this gap in the literature. In this regard, the effects of horizontal and vertical timber tie beams were investigated in solid walls and wall models with openings. Ten different wall configurations were examined in the study. The wall models were constructed using brick material and mortar mixed with lime. A simplified micro-modelling approach was used in ABAQUS to define the cohesive interface between the brick units and represent the mortar. The walls were analysed using displacement control in the in-plane direction. Sensitivity analyses were performed to obtain a realistic representation of the tie beam-wall behaviour. Load-displacement curves, compression and shear stress distributions, elastic and plastic deformation changes, and failure mechanisms were evaluated in wall models. According to the results, the horizontal resistance of walls with timber tie beam elements decreased. Increasing the number of horizontal and vertical tie beams reduced the performance of the walls. It has been determined that the tie beam arrangement significantly changes the crack distribution and failure mechanism. These results indicate that the use of tie beams in lime-mortar brick walls does not improve horizontal load performance.