Design of slender shear connected masonry cavity walls

In recent work the writers carried out extensive testing and numerical analysis investigation of slender cavity masonry walls constructed with vertically aligned shear connectors and subjected to eccentric vertical compressive loads. This type of masonry tie has been shown to provide increased stiffness and strength characteristics to the wall system. In this paper a multilinear regression analysis is carried out based on the data generated by that investigation. The effective stiffness of the shear connected cavity walls is evaluated. A design approach for these walls when subjected to eccentric compressive loads is proposed. This design approach makes use of the effective stiffness in the context of the moment magnifier method. It is then verified against the code requirements and available test data by the writers and others.