Experimental testing and numerical modelling of infill masonry walls subjected to in-plane damage

This work presents experimental test results obtained on clay unit masonry infill walls for framed structures. Tests were carried out on one-bay, real scale reinforced concrete frames, by imposing in-plane cyclic displacements at the frame top beam until reaching pre-determined drift levels. Afterwards, the infill walls were tested out-of-plane, until collapse. The tested systems have thick (300 mm) clay masonry units, and are made of both unreinforced and reinforced masonry. The masonry walls can fully fill the RC frame or have a central opening. After carrying out the tests, a numerical model implementing non-linear laws for the masonry wall and the reinforcement was developed. The model is able to reproduce the static non-linear behaviour of the wall loaded out-of-plane, reproducing the actual boundary conditions of the test and different conditions. The model was used to carry out parametric analyses of the construction system and understanding the main factors influencing the out-of-plane behaviour, including the effect of in-plane damage. After a short review of the experimental results, this paper presents the developed numerical model and the main outcomes of the analyses.