An Investigative Study for the Seismic Performance of Composite-Reinforced Masonry Wall with Prestressing Technology

Prestressing technology is an effective way to improve the seismic performance of masonry structures such as concrete masonry wall. Therefore, bonded prestressing technology applied to integrated concrete masonry wall (ICMW) was proposed in this study, and a cyclic loading test on specimens with different section types was conducted. It was found that the prestressing technology rendered thinner and denser cracks on the load-bearing component of the specimens, while the failure mode remained unchanged. The prestressing technology increased the initial stiffness of the specimens and accelerated their stiffness degradation. Although the prestressing technology advanced the yield displacement of the specimens, it had a positive influence on the displacement ductility of the specimens. Additionally, the energy dissipation of the specimens increased with the deepening of the damage state, while the influence of the prestressing on the energy dissipation of the specimens decreased with an increased in the drift ratio. Furthermore, the equivalent viscous damping of the specimens with a rectangular and T-shaped section finally converged at 8% and 14%, respectively. Overall, the aforementioned findings indicate that the prestressing technology proposed in this study is a useful method for improving the damage propagation and seismic performance of ICMW, which could be used to construct low-rise masonry structures in the future.