Available online at www.CivileJournal.org Civil Engineering Journal (E-ISSN: 2476-3055; ISSN: 2676-6957) Vol. 8, No. 10, October, 2022 2205 Seismic Behavior of Reinforced Masonry Structure: Relation between the Behavior Factor and the Ductility Ourida Hellal Sfaksi 1* , Ali Bouheraoua 1 , Hacène Ait Aider 1 , Mohamed O. Mechiche 1 1 Civil Engineering Department, University of Mouloud MAMMERI Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria. Received 13 June 2022; Revised 27 August 2022; Accepted 07 September 2022; Published 01 October 2022 Abstract The present work concerns a numerical study of the behavior of reinforced masonry (RM) structures under seismic loading. These structures are made of small hollow elements with reinforcements embedded in the horizontal joints. They were dimensioned according to the rules and codes commonly used. They are subject to vertical loads due to their own weight, and to horizontal loads due to seismic forces introduced by the accelerograms. The software used is the non-linear analysis program Drain2D, based on the finite element method, where the shear panel element was introduced. A series of calculations was performed on a number of structures at different levels, excited by three major accelerograms (El Centro, Cherchell, and Kobe). Throughout the study, our main interest is to evaluate the behaviour factor, the ductility, and the failure mode of these structures while increasing the intensity of earthquakes introduced. The results of this present study indicate that the average values of the behaviour factor and the global ductility are of the order of q≈μ≈3.00. The reinforced masonry structures studied have been broken by interstage displacement. The results given by the study are comparable to those given in the literature and in Eurocode 8. The behavior of reinforced masonry under a seismic load is similar to the behavior of reinforced concrete; it is a ductile behavior that allows the dissipation of the energy transmitted by the earthquake. These numerical studies confirm and complete the experimental work carried out by other researchers. Keywords: Reinforced Masonry; Elastic Inelastic; Earthquake; Failure Mode; Behavior Factor; Ductility. 1. Introduction The idea for this work comes from the fact that northern Algeria has practically exhausted its building potential. Knowing that, the south of the country presents opportunities to build in order to lodge the populations, especially when the exploration is still relevant and the future is there. In addition, recent events prove that even this area of Algeria is prone to earthquakes such as the BISKRA earthquake. However, it is then necessary to build and take the measures to deal with this natural hazard. The first concern that the design engineer must have is to provide provisions ensuring the general stability and especially the bracing of all the buildings. The purpose of these requirements is not only to ensure the resistance to the horizontal forces taken into account in calculations, such as those resulting from the action of the earthquake, but also to enable buildings to withstand, without undue damage, the effects of certain stresses, such as localized explosions [1, 2]. The damage encountered in structures under seismic loading differs according to the type of bracing chosen [3, 4], the metal bracing, reinforced concrete, or reinforced masonry cited in the seismic code [5-7], which is characterized by * Corresponding author: hellal.ourida@yahoo.fr http://dx.doi.org/10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-10-012 © 2022 by the authors. Licensee C.E.J, Tehran, Iran. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).