Project title
Effect of reinforcement on performance of masonry and concrete shear walls.
Supervisory Team
Principal Supervisor: Dr. Tatheer Zahra
Associate Supervisors: Professor David Thambiratnam
External Supervisor: Dr. Julian Thamboo (South Eastern University, Oluvil, Sri Lanka)
Project description
Shear walls are critical elements in structures as they are designed to resist lateral loads caused by earthquakes and winds. Reinforced concrete shear walls are commonly used in medium to high rise buildings. Recently, reinforced masonry shear walls have become more popular since they are considered to behave similarly to reinforced concrete walls and are relatively cheaper to construct. Reinforcement detailing has significant effects on the behaviour of reinforced concrete and masonry shear walls. However, there is a growing concern amongst the engineering industry that the current Australian design standards for concrete (AS3600 -2018) and masonry (AS3700-2018) walls have contradicting specifications in relation to reinforcement detailing which may undermine the safety of shear walls. The goal of this research is to analyse the effects of reinforcement detailing on the lateral response of masonry and concrete shear walls through experimental and numerical investigations to establish the reliability of existing standards.
Short Biography
Seyed Meghdad received his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (2007) from the Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Iran, and worked as a mechanical engineer for about 7 years. He then moved to Australia and received his Bachelor of Civil Engineering (2020) from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. He worked on a research project under the supervision of Dr. Tatheer Zahra and has been involved in tutoring many courses such as structural, water, and geotechnical engineering. Since February 2021, Seyed Meghdad is conducting his PhD studies on the performance of masonry and concrete shear walls at QUT. His research interests include concrete, masonry, and composite materials.