Experimental Study on Hybrid Masonry Structure with RC Frame under Lateral Reversed Cyclic Loading

As a new type of structural system, hybrid masonry (HM) structure with reinforced concrete (RC) frame is constructed of reinforced block masonry wall and reinforced concrete frame. This structural system combines the advantages of reinforced concrete frame structure and reinforced concrete block masonry structure, also overcomes some limitations of them. In order to study the seismic performance of the structural system, the lateral reversed cyclic loading experiment on the HM structure with RC frame was conducted. In the experiment, two specimens that were constructed with different connecting type were designed and tested, in one of them the masonry blocks was separated from the RC frame and only connected with steel keys at the top part of the specimen, while in the other there was no spacing between the RC frame and the masonry blocks. According to the data of the experiment, the paper analyzed the failure process and patterns, hysteretic characteristic, skeleton curve, stiffness degradation and displacement ductility of the structural system, and compared the results of the two specimens. The experimental study indicated that the HM structure with RC frame showed extraordinary good seismic performance during testing, and this form of construction had fairly good displacement ductility and energy dissipation, which would provide a basis for further theoretical analysis and design method.