Measured Seismic Behavior of Hybrid Masonry Structural Systems

Hybrid masonry is a new structural concept for buildings that incorporates the in-plane strength and stiffness of reinforced concrete masonry with the ease of erecting conventional steel framing. Because the masonry structural panels can also serve as architectural elements, hybrid masonry has the promise to be highly competitive with conventional lateral force resisting systems including reinforced masonry or concrete shear walls, steel braced frames, or concrete or steel moment-resisting frames. As part of an integrated program of multi-institutional research, seismic response and behavior of this construction type have been studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a series of full-scale tests that are described in this paper. This paper provides an introduction to this innovative seismic structural system, summarizes the experimental research, and outlines how this research can be used to transform current seismic design practice, and by so doing make structural masonry more competitive in regions of moderate and high seismicity.