Out-of-plane behaviour of infill masonry walls

Recently, a new code for the seismic design of structures has been adopted in Italy (OPCM 3431; 2005). This code provides new provisions for the safety evaluation of non structural elements, among which the masonry infill walls for framed structures. In order to carry out a first assessment of the provisions given by the new code, an experimental campaign on the out-of-plane behavior of three types of clay masonry infill wall was performed. In the present contribution, the experimental results of out-of-plane tests carried out on the three typologies of clay unit masonry infill are presented. The test procedure and the results are discussed. In particular, the experimentally obtained capacity of the infill walls is compared with the code required seismic capacity.