ABSTRACT
Masonry barrages are considered one of the most important water structures in Egypt. They
control water levels in the River Nile and its branches and canals. It is very important to keep
them working in good condi tion to assure good water management and distribution process.
Most of barrages in Egypt have been built many years ago using masonry bricks without steel
reinforcement. Due to their importance it is essential to protect these structures from the risk of
earthquakes. Also some of these masonry barrages have been belt hundreds years ago and still
working till now. The new barrages in Egypt were built using reinforced concrete. The cost of
reinforced concrete structures is much higher than masonry structures. The main problem of the
masonry structures is their low resistance to lateral load especially in the out of plane direction
which causes over stress in the barrage piers during earthquakes.
This research was performed to investigate the effect of us ing reinforcement masonry and pre -
stressed masonry to increase the seismic load capacity of barrage piers in the out of plane
direction. These two techniques could be used in new structures or in existing structures.
Three masonry piers were built on a s haking table using ordinary masonry, reinforced masonry,
and pre-stressed masonry. These piers were exposed to cyclic loads with different frequencies to
model the earthquake. Finite element model was developed for the tested piers. Dynamic
analyses were performed using the same input motion of the shaking table. The results of the
experimental and the numerical models were compared to adjust the numerical model. Another
finite element models were developed for typical masonry barrage using ordinary and re inforced
masonry. Time history dynamic analyses were performed to investigate the effect of earthquakes
on their responses. Guidelines for the assessment of the use of reinforced and pre -stressed
techniques in construction and strengthening of masonry barr ages were suggested.