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Experimental assessment of the out-of-plane strength of URM infill walls with different slenderness and boundary conditions

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Abstract

In this study, the results of experimental tests performed on unreinforced masonry infill walls are presented. The out-of-plane response of infills different for the thickness and for the boundary conditions but equal for the construction procedure and the materials used is investigated. Infills with two different height-to-thickness slenderness ratios are tested. In addition, three different boundary conditions at edges are considered. The experimental results are used to assess, for different values of the slenderness ratio, the effectiveness of the out-of-plane strength formulations for unreinforced masonry enclosures in which the mono-directional or bi-directional arching mechanism can occur. A discussion on the different post-peak response of specimens with different boundary condition (brittle, for vertical spanning infills, non-brittle for infills mortared along three or four edges to the confining elements) is also presented. In the case of one-way arching, literature and code models underestimate the out-of-plane strength of thinner specimens and overestimate it for thicker specimens. In the case of two-way arching, all the existing strength formulations are significantly conservative and potentially adequate for a code-based safety check of unreinforced masonry infill walls under out-of-plane seismic demand.

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Abbreviations

dcrush :

Out-of-plane displacement at masonry crushing

dOOP :

Out-of-plane displacement of the central point of the specimen

E:

Young modulus

Fmax :

Out-of-plane strength

FOOP :

Out-of-plane force

fb :

Strength of bricks in compression

fcm :

Strength of concrete in compression

fj :

Strength of mortar in compression

fm :

Strength of masonry in compression

fym :

Strength of steel bars at yielding

G:

Shear modulus of masonry

h:

Height of the infill wall

My :

Maximum moment per unit length (McDowell et al. 1956)

R1 :

Resistance degradation factor due to the in-plane damage (Angel et al. 1994)

R2 :

Resistance reduction factor due to the deformation of structural elements (Angel et al. 1994)

t:

Thickness of the infill wall

w:

Width of the infill wall

xy :

Displacement at the maximum arching thrust formation (McDowell et al. 1956)

z:

Out-of-plane displacement

α:

Horizontal factor for frame deformability (Dawe and Seah 1989)

β:

Vertical factor for frame deformability (Dawe and Seah 1989)

εc :

Limit strain (McDowell et al. 1956)

εcrush :

Masonry crushing strain

λ:

Slenderness factor (Angel et al. 1994)

b:

Reinforced concrete frame beam

c:

Reinforced concrete frame columns

h:

In the horizontal direction

m:

Masonry

v:

In the vertical direction

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Funding

METROPOLIS (Integrated and sustainable methodologies and technologies for the adaptation and safety of urban systems - PON Ricerca e Competitività 2007–2013). Italian Department of Civil Protection ReLUIS-DPC 2014–2018 Linea Cemento Armato – Work Package 6 (Grant No. E56D16000670005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, University of Naples Federico II, Via Claudio 21, 80125, Naples, Italy

    Mariano Di Domenico, Paolo Ricci & Gerardo M. Verderame

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  1. Mariano Di Domenico
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  2. Paolo Ricci
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  3. Gerardo M. Verderame
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Correspondence to Mariano Di Domenico.

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Di Domenico, M., Ricci, P. & Verderame, G.M. Experimental assessment of the out-of-plane strength of URM infill walls with different slenderness and boundary conditions. Bull Earthquake Eng 17, 3959–3993 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-019-00604-5

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