Report # 8 : Buildings with hybrid masonry walls

by Ofelia Moroni, Cristian Gomez, Maximiliano Astroza

This housing type represents a common multi-family urban construction in Chile. Practice of this construction “mainly used for dwellings and for up to 4-story apartment buildings” began in the 1980s. The main load-bearing system consists of masonry walls in the transverse direction and reinforced concrete walls in the longitudinal direction. In some cases, longitudinal walls are of reinforced masonry construction (instead of concrete construction). Masonry walls in the transverse direction are usually confined with concrete posts at the ends (such as is found in confined masonry construction). Buildings are usually regular in plan and in elevation. The seismic design code does not address this building type. However, the Chilean Ministry of Housing has issued specifications for 1- and 2-story dwellings, which have mainly been followed in the design (even in taller buildings of this type). Performance in the 1985 Llolleo earthquake was rather poor, with most buildings experiencing structural damage.

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