Experimental investigation of unreinforced brick masonry walls in flexure

Abstract

This paper presents the results of static and dynamic tests on unreinforced brick masonry wall panels subject to out-of-plane loading. Fourteen wall panels were tested. The test program included static, free-vibration, and dynamic tests using harmonic support, impulse support, and earthquake support motion. The experimental results indicate that displacement, rather than inertia force amplitude, determines whether an unreinforced masonry wall will collapse during inertial (seismic) loading. An empirical force–displacement relationship is proposed that can be used for a substitute structure in a displacement-based method of analysis.