Confined masonry

SDC
Confined masonry

Lesson prepared by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation for the
trainings
13 August 2006 at the Housing Reconstruction Centres Ballakot and Battagram 1

Confined masonry

SDC
Definition
Confined Masonry is a construction system
where the walls are built first, and the
columns and beams are poured in
afterwards to enclose (confine) the wall.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Concept
The walls are tied down to the foundation.

The ties work like a string around a parcel.

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Confined masonry

SDC
Difference with RC frames
Confined Masonry Reinforced Concrete Frame
• Walls first • Concrete first
• Concrete later • Walls later

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Difference with RC frames
Confined Masonry Reinforced Concrete Frame
Walls ensure rigidity Column – beam connections
ensure rigidity

Straightforward Complicated
transmission of efforts transmission of efforts

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Confined masonry

SDC
Difference with RC frames
Confined Masonry
Walls are anchored to the
frames through indentation.
Reinforced Concrete Frame
Walls are usually not
anchored to the frames and
will fall out.

(Additional re-bars will Later anchoring of walls can

improve anchoring) be difficult

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Difference with RC frames
Confined Masonry Reinforced Concrete Frame
All efforts go through the
beam-column connection.
If they are badly done,
they break.

Concrete goes into

the indentation of
the brick wall

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Confined masonry

SDC
Summing up
Confined Masonry Reinforced Concrete Frame

It’s the walls that do the work. It’s the columns and beams that
do the work.

That’s why they are called Walls are only infills.

load bearing walls.

From here on we’ll talk about

load bearing walls made with
the confined masonry system.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Walls

(the walls shown here are not confined)

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Confined masonry

SDC
Walls: why do we need them
A building needs walls for
1. Protection against climate, view, intruders, etc.

+
When we talk about load bearing walls, they will
2. Carry the roof and/or upper floor (vertical loads)

+
When we talk about earthquakes, they will also
3. Carry the lateral pushes (horizontal loads)

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Load bearing walls
• They can be made out of:
• Bricks + cement or cement/lime mortar
• Stone + reinforced concrete confinements
• Cement blocks
• Most importantly, they must be strong.
• Water the bricks or blocks before use
• Fill all joints (horizontal and vertical with mortar)
• Use the right mixture for the mortar (1 bucket of
cement for 5 buckets of clean and rough sand)

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Confined masonry

SDC
Load bearing walls

• All load bearing walls must be confined.

or

• All confined walls are load bearing.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Earthquake resistance

• When we talk earthquake resistance, we are

particularly interested in the capacity of a wall to
withstand horizontal loads.
Horizontal load

Horizontal load

• Confined walls work also for horizontal loads.

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Confined masonry

SDC
Horizontal loads

20.5°

In an earthquake the ground A serious earthquake (0.35 g) has

moves sideward. That’s like the same effect on a house as
pushing the roof. The walls must tilting it at an angle of 20.5
help to resist this horizontal load. degrees. That’s why walls must
be strong.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Distribution of walls
The earthquake resistance of a These shear walls must be
house is much better, if least two placed as far away from each
strong walls without openings other as possible.
(called shear walls) are placed in
each direction.

Special case
with walls in
the centre

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Confined masonry

SDC
Distribution of walls

The shear walls must be placed

symmetrically and as far away
from each other as possible to
avoid rotation.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Shear walls
Shear walls cannot have any openings and no slits for
pipes!

Shear walls should ideally be as long as they are high.

Minimum length should be 2/3 of their height.

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Confined masonry

SDC
Shear walls
Shear walls should not be higher than 8 feet.

If the wall is higher, an intermediate bond beam must be

introduced at 8 feet.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Shear walls
The total surface on the ground of
all shear walls (L x B) in the same
direction must be between 1.0%
and 1.4% of the roof surface (with
2 floors, add up each floor),
according to the soil.
Type of soil Description Min. wall
surface on
Example: ground

If you roof surface is 400 sqft, the Hard Rock 1.0%

Gravel
total shear wall surface touching
Intermediate Hard clayish 1.2%
the ground must be 4 to 5.6 sqft
sand
(i.e. all shear walls added up)
Soft of loose Loose sand 1.4%
© Blondet 2005 soft clay

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Confined masonry

SDC
Shear walls
Example: Total surface of shear walls on the ground =
1.0 to 1.4% of roof surface in this direction.

© Blondet 2005
The same calculation must be repeated for the other
direction.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Construction details

Roof slab

Bond beam

Columns

Walls

Plinth beam

Foundation

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Confined masonry

SDC
Construction details
Step by step 1. Column reinforcements
2. Foundations
3. Plinth beam
4. Walls
5. Doors and windows
6. Bond beam
7. Roof slab
8. Extensions

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Column reinforcements
General rules

Bend hooks at
45 degrees

Alternate
position of hooks

3“
1“
Always use steel bars
with ridges (smooth
rebars may only be All rebars must be
used for stirrups) covered by at least
1 inch of concrete

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Confined masonry

SDC Column
reinforcements
Prepare columns
reinforcements:

Through plinth and bond

beams place stirrups at 4”
intervals.

Keep this interval for 2 ½

feet in the lower and upper
part of the column.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Foundations
Place column reinforcement on a
2” bed of concrete on the bottom
of the foundation

2”

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Confined masonry

SDC
Foundations
Don’t put big stones near to the
columns in the foundations. The
concrete would not be able to get
correctly into the reinforcements.
Place bigger pipes into the
foundations to prepare future
passages for sewage and water
pipes.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Plinth beam
Prepare the reinforcement of the plinth beam

Don’t forget:
stirrup ends bent
at 45 degrees!

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Confined masonry

SDC
Plinth beam
Place plinth beam reinforcement
on foundation using ‘distance 1 ½” 1 ½”
blocks’ or ‘spacers’.
The distance blocks must also be
put on both sides to keep the 1 ½”
distance to the formwork.

Distance blocks 1 ½”
(height 1 ½”)

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Plinth beam
Connect beams to columns using
straight rebars and ‘pins’

Overlapping 50 cm

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Confined masonry

SDC
Brick walls
Use only bricks with ‘frogs’ or Water the bricks before use
vertical holes

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Brick walls
Use the Flamish rather than the English bond. It has an equal
number of joints in each layer, thus ensures more regular mortar
joints (i.e. all of the same thickness).

6 joints
3 joints
6 joints
3 joints

Flamish Bond English Bond

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Confined masonry

SDC
Brick walls
End walls in zig-zag towards Avoid continuous joints
columns

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Brick walls
All joints (horizontal and vertical) Join walls carefully by alternating
must be between 3/8” and ½”. brick connection.

1st layer

2nd layer
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Confined masonry

SDC
Brick walls
Don’t build higher than 4 feet per Protect fresh walls in hot climates
day! against drying out.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Improved wall anchoring
•To improve connection between
columns and walls, use “stitches”
made of rebar anchors (Ø 1/3” or
8mm).
•Place anchors every 1 ½ foot.
•Place the anchor bars in a bed of
concrete the height of a brick layer.
•Anchors must end with a hook.

•Link anchors with small stirrups.

Stitches

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Confined masonry

SDC
Improved wall anchoring
• Add horizontal through bands at sill and lintel level, even if you
don’t have a window. These bands will secure the wall against being
knocked out during an earthquake.

Seismic band Seismic band

Seismic band rebars Ø 3/8”,
at sill level at lintel level
h = brick course

Stitches
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 Confined masonry

SDC
Installations in walls
•Don’t break the wall to place
electrical or water pipes.
•Try to keep these pipes outside
the wall.
•If they have to be in the wall,
place them while mounting the
wall, by interrupting the wall in
zig-zag and filling in with concrete
like you do with the columns.

© Blondet 2005 © Blondet 2005

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Confined masonry

SDC
Doors and windows
Reinforcement around windows and doors

Add 2 rebars on
both sides of any
window or door

Rebars are bent on both

ends and must be well
connected to seismic
bands. 8”

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Bond beam
Prepare the reinforcement of the bond beam

Don’t forget:
stirrup ends bent
at 45 degrees!

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Confined masonry

SDC
Bond beam
Connect bond beams to columns with straight rebars and
pins.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Roof slab
For spans up to 11 feet

Ø 3/8” @ 8”
Ø 3/8” @ 8”

2” 6”
Ø ½” @ 10”
Distance
blocks 1 ½”

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Confined masonry

SDC
Roof slab
Example of reinforcement bar distribution for a span of 11 feet.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Roof slab
• A roof pulled over the wall
edge is another good method
(protects the walls against
rain).
• But you still have to place a
bond beam over the walls as
shown on the previous
picture.
• Make sure that the slab
rebars go correctly through
the bond beam.

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Confined masonry

SDC
Roof slab
Water the slab and keep it wet for one week.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Column – roof slab connection
• If you want the column rebars
to stick out of your roof for
future extensions, they must
be:
• Long enough (at least 2
feet).
• Cast in concrete (to
ensure correct
anchoring).
• Otherwise it’s better to bend
them into the bond beam
before casting the slab!

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Confined masonry

SDC
Roof terrace
If you want to make a roof terrace, the
terrace walls must be anchored like all
other walls.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Roof terrace
Avoid putting your terrace wall on a
cantilevered cornice, as it will fall on
your head during an earthquake.

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Confined masonry

SDC
Slope roof
You can use the column reinforcement bars sticking out of the roof
slab to anchor the beams of a slope roof.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Retaining walls
The walls of your house must not be in direct contact with the ground!

• If you build against a

slope, you must make
retaining walls at least
2.5 feet away from the
building.
• Retaining walls keep
away the pressure of the
slope and of the water.
• If you make retaining
walls in dry stone
masonry or ‘situ’ they
must have an inclination
of 1 to 5.

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Confined masonry

SDC
Retaining walls

• To lead away rain water

(including all water that
has rained on the slope
above your house), make
a drainage canal around
the house.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Gaps between buildings
To avoid damage among two
buildings, or an extension to the
original building, a gap of 1/100th
of the height is compulsory.
This gap must be absolutely
empty and clean (no mortar
rests).

Example: Height of the building

12 feet (3.6m), the gap must be
1 ½” (36mm).
Take into account any future
second floor!

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Confined masonry

SDC
Gaps between buildings
Close gaps with bricks placed in They will brake away during an
front of them. earthquake, that’s all.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Find the error
• No distance blocks
or spacers in the
roof slab.
• These rebars
exposed on the
surface will rust
quickly and
become
ineffective.

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Confined masonry

SDC
Find the error
• Stirrups are not
bent at a 45
degree angle.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Find the error
• The overlapping
length is
insufficient

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Confined masonry

SDC
Find the error
• Bond beam must
be cast together
with the roof slab.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Find the error
• Bond beam must
be cast together
with the roof slab.
• Depending on the
direction (i.e. in the
direction of the
shorter span), the
horizontal
reinforcement bars
must end in a
hook.

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Confined masonry

SDC
Find the error
• Slab is cast
against another
house.
• There is no
movement joint to
protect your house
against the
hammering of your
neighbour’s house
during a quake.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Find the error
• These distance blocks or
spacers don’t have a wire to
attach them to the rebars. They
can move while pouring the
concrete.
• You should prepare them as
shown below, each block with a
wire:

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Confined masonry

SDC
Find the error
• Concrete has not been vibrated
correctly to fill every gap.
• You should use a vibrator when
casting concrete, or at least
hammer against formwork to
make sure that the concrete fills
every hole.
• Don’t add more water to the
concrete to make it more fluent.
It will become weaker.

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 Confined masonry

SDC
Find the error
• Wall is to high
without
intermediate
seismic band.
• An opportunity
has been missed:
for little more
money a much
stronger wall
could have been
made.

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Confined masonry

SDC
Further reading
• Blondet M. (2005), Construction and Maintenance of Masonry Houses, Pontifica
Universidad Catolica del Peru, Lima,
www.eeri.org/lfe/clearinghouse/kashmir/resources.html
• City (year n/a), Confined Masonry Construction, City University London,
www.staff.city.ac.uk/earthquakes/MasonryBrick/ConfinedBrickMasonryP.htm
• Earthquake Hazard Centre, Newsletter, Victoria University of Wellington, New
Zealand, www.vuw.ac.nz/architecture/research/ehc/
• AIS 2001), Manual de construccion, evaluacion y rehabilitacion sismo
resistente en viviendas e mamposteria, Asociation Colombiana de Ingenieria
Sismica, www.desenredando.org/public/libros/2001/cersrvm/index.html
• NICEE (2004), Guidelines for Earthquake Resistant Non-Engineered
Construction, Chapter IV: Buildings in Fired-Brick and other Masonry Units,
National Information Centre of Earthquake Engineering, IIT Kanput,
www.iitk.ac.in/nicee/iaee_english/Chapter4.pdf
• IITK-BMTPC, Earthquake tips 1-24, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) and
Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC),
www.nicee.org/EQTips/IITK_BMTPC.htm

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