Semi interlocking masonry as infill wall system for earthquake resistant buildings: a review

Masonry is one of the most popular building materials. It has many excellent material properties and proven durability. Over time, masonry structures have evolved from massive walls, which work mainly through compression, to more slender walls, which could also experience tension and shear. Earthquake-induced tensile and shear stresses often exceed the capacity of traditional unreinforced masonry resulting in substantial damage and failure. A new mortar-less masonry system called semi-interlocking masonry (SIM) is presented in this paper. It has reduced stiffness and susceptibility to damage and utilized a special method of interlocking bricks that allows relative sliding of brick courses in-plane of a wall and prevents out-of-plane relative movement of bricks. The paper reviews the research on SIM to date and identifies new research opportunities in this area.