Self-reinforced masonry blocks, walls made from self-reinforced masonry blocks, and method for making self-reinforced masonry blocks

A method for making a self-reinforced concrete block, comprising:

• placing at least one hollow confining reinforcement inside a main cavity of a block mold, inwardly of side walls of the main cavity;
• introducing no-slump concrete mix into the main cavity to fill the main cavity while leaving at least one cell region within the main cavity substantially devoid of concrete;
• the at least one confining reinforcement being positioned to surround a corresponding one of the at least one cell region;
• closing the mold;
• and
• vibrating the closed mold and applying compression to the no-slump concrete mix to form the concrete block.

A wall comprising:

• a plurality of self-reinforced masonry blocks;
• and
• a plurality of unreinforced masonry blocks;
• each of the self-reinforced masonry blocks and the unreinforced masonry blocks comprising:
• a main body having opposed substantially parallel stacking surfaces;
• the main body having at least one tubular cell defined therethrough from one of the stacking surfaces to the other stacking surface;
• each at least one cell having a longitudinal axis and a longitudinal length defined by the stacking surfaces;
• each self-reinforced masonry block further comprising:
• at least one hollow confining reinforcement embedded in the main body of the self-reinforced masonry block;
• each confining reinforcement surrounding a corresponding one of the at least one cell in the self-reinforced masonry block along the longitudinal length of that cell;
• and
• each confining reinforcement extending substantially entirely along the longitudinal length of its corresponding cell in that self-reinforced masonry block;
• and
• each confining reinforcement terminating inwardly of the stacking surfaces of that self-reinforced masonry block;
• the wall comprising edge portions and intermediate portions between the edge portions, wherein:
• both the self-reinforced masonry blocks and the unreinforced masonry blocks are arranged in a stacked configuration wherein the cells of vertically adjacent masonry blocks are in registration with one another to define vertically extending tubular cavities;
• wherein:
• the intermediate portions comprise the unreinforced masonry blocks;
• at least base regions of the edge portions are composed of the self-reinforced masonry blocks;
• and
• all of the outermost vertically extending tubular cavities in the edge portions are filled with grout and have a resilient reinforcement member extending vertically therethrough and embedded in the grout.