TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF MY WALL IN SEISMIC EVENTS,WILL I NEED TO PUT ALOT OF BED JOINT REINFORCEMENT?

For seismic events, the reinforcement itself will improve the mechanical behaviour of the wall because of its ductile properties. However for the same reasons given previously, this cannot be assigned stability of the wall to the reinforcement itself.

 

For the reinforcement to be calculated into seismic effects, it should be accompanied by other elements of retention, such as anchors to the pillars.

corner execution

DOES THE WIDTH OF THE REINFORCEMENT BENEFICIALLY AFFECT THE STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE?

Reinforcement used in crack control does not require a specific width, since the only thing that counts in this case is the area of steel section.

By contrast, the width of the reinforcement has a role to play when it has a structural function, and that by increasing the mechanical arm, you increase at the same proportion the horizontal bending strength of the walls in the masonry.

DOES CORRUGATED WIRE IMPROVE THE ADHESION?

The reinforcement does not improve at all by the fact the wire is corrugated. The conditions for grip relating to transferring forces evenly through-out small-diameter bars, such as the type of masonry reinforcement depend more on the measure of mortar and not the masonry reinforcement.

Grip provided by corrugated bars is only needed when the forces you may have are very large, this only occurs within very thick bars. In the case of the reinforcement a number is worth a thousand words, two bars of 4mm in diameter can transfer securely 10kN, following the required regulations.

This value has been tested on smooth bars of reinforcement. Furthermore the calculation shows the real value of the force that is transferred across the reinforcement (that is met by the minimum quantity requirements) in worst case scenarios, is approximately half.

Consequently the corrugated reinforcement makes no extra benefits of reinforcement that weren’t in the traditional reinforcement. It is important that the technique of reinforced concrete, capable of transferring large forces, use normal plain bars when there is a small diameter. What really improves the transmission of forces is the existence of a suitable cover of reinforcement in the overlap areas.