COMPOSITE BEHAVIOUR OF SHALLOW BRICK WALLS SUPPORTED ON REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS.

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation into the flexural behavior of shallow brick walls supported on reinforced concrete strips, acting as composite reinforced brick beams. The results show that shallow brick walls act compositely with the supporting reinforced concrete beam as a composite flexural member. Being in the tension zone, the reinforced concrete beam need only have depth sufficient to provide protection for the reinforcements. The composite member can be designed as a reinforced brick beam either by the working stress method or by the ultimate strength design method. The service load deflection of such a beam will be negligibly small. For the beams tested the service load deflections could be calculated accurately, assuming the flexural stiffness of the beam as 40% of the stiffness of the gross section. For design, the brickwork strength and elastic modulus can be calculated with reasonable accuracy using equations given in the paper.