Shake table tests on the out-of-plane response of unreinforced masonry wallsThis article is one of a selection of papers published in this Special Issue on Masonry.

Abstract

Given sufficient anchorage to the diaphragms, out-of-plane walls in unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings have been shown to crack above midheight and then rock as two rigid bodies. This study investigates the sensitivity of the rocking response to the type of ground motion and the quality of the wall construction. Shake table tests were conducted on four full-scale multi-wythe walls, all with a height to thickness (h/t) ratio of 12 but of varying construction quality and subjected to three different ground motions. All walls experienced cracking at less than one half of the 2005 National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) level for Vancouver, but exhibited a stable rocking behaviour without collapse beyond a ground motion 1.5 times the 2005 NBCC level.