This paper presents the results of the LNEC-3D shaking table tests on two mock-ups, Brick House and Stone House, carried out in the scope of the workshop "Methods and challenges on the out-ofplane assessment of existing masonry buildings". The mock-ups have a U shape with one façade wall and two orthogonal sidewalls. The façade has a central opening and a gable on top, whereas the two sidewalls, acting as abutments, are either blind or have a window. A unidirectional seismic action, in the perpendicular direction to main wall, was applied. Out-of-plane behaviour of the façade was found, even if the response was clearly influenced by the presence of the window in one of the sidewalls, which led to significant torsion of the structure. The detailed description of the two tests and the conclusions are presented. The response of the mock-ups was evaluated based on the displacements, damage and collapse mechanisms developed as function of an increasing intensity earthquake testing protocol, in which a pre-processed strong ground motion component of the Christchurch (New Zealand) earthquake (February 21 st , 2011) was used. IntroductionThis paper focuses on the experimental study of the out-of-plane behaviour of masonry structures under seismic loading and provides a ground for the validation of the different approaches currently available for assessment of existing structures. For that purpose, tests were carried out in the LNEC-3D shake table with two mock-ups: one built using regular clay brick masonry with English bond and the other built using multi-leave granite stone masonry. The mock-ups have a U shape with one façade wall and two orthogonal sidewalls. A unidirectional seismic action perpendicular to main wall was applied. Several experts were invited to predict the out-of-plane seismic capacity prior to the disclosure of the test results, in what is commonly known as a blind prediction test.The main goal of the exercise was to promote a debate about the challenges of existing methods for the out-of-plane assessment of existing masonry buildings, leading to the definition of research needs, rather than evaluating the quantitative differences between the numerical predictions and the experimental results. Each participant was allowed to define the main control outputs according to the structural analysis method adopted, such as the collapse peak ground acceleration, ultimate displacement or energy dissipation.A qualitative assessment was carried out with the purpose of identifying the trends in the predictions of the damage patterns and collapse mechanisms, which allow highlighting the pros and cons of the different methods, discussing their applicability for engineering assessment of existing buildings and comparing the different results with blind experimental tests. To this end, a reference response spectrum and some basic mechanical properties were supplied to the participants, while a clear indication of the performance levels reached and corresponding response spectrum scaling factors had to be indicated b...

No abstract

Although the issue of the out-of-plane response of unreinforced masonry structures under earthquake excitation is well known and consensual between the research community, this is simultaneously one of the more complex and most neglected areas on the seismic assessment of existing buildings. Nonetheless, its characterisation should be found on the solid knowledge of the phenomenon and on the complete understanding of methodologies currently used to describe it. Based on this assumption, this paper presents a general framework on the issue of the out-ofplane performance of unreinforced masonry structures starting off with a brief introduction to the topic, followed by a compact state of art in which the principal methodologies proposed to assess Downloaded by [Selcuk Universitesi] at 05A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 3 the out-of-plane behaviour of unreinforced masonry structures are presented. Different analytical approaches are presented, namely force and displacement-based, complemented with the presentation of existing numerical tools for the purpose presented above. Moreover, the most relevant experimental campaigns carried out in order to reproduce the phenomenon are reviewed and briefly discussed.

SUMMARY The evaluation of the dynamic behaviour of rocking elements is directly correlated to the energy dissipated because of the impacts at the base interface, which can be represented by means of a coefficient of restitution. This schematization is commonly accepted as representative of the out‐of‐plane response of stone masonry walls. An experimental campaign (in a lab environment) aiming at assessing the value of this coefficient for a sacco granite masonry wall is presented in this work. The rocking motion at a predefined bed joint level was induced in the tested specimens in order to validate a novel test setup designed to assess the coefficient of restitution value by means of a realistic reproduction of the rocking behaviour of a single element, under the hypothesis of an infinitely stiff system above the bed joint level. As the main objective of the work was to assess the rocking behaviour of a masonry wall that looses energy at the impacts at a certain joint level, the flexural behaviour was not desirable and had to be avoided. For this purpose, a test setup based on the equivalent block approach was developed. In the final section of this work, comparisons between experimental and numerical results are presented together with some preliminary conclusions on the appropriate modelling strategy and the values of the coefficient of restitution to be used for the seismic assessment of the out‐of‐plane rocking behaviour of this type of sacco stone masonry walls. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The present work reports on an in situ experimental test campaign carried out on abandoned traditional masonry houses after the 9th July 1998 earthquake that seriously hit the Faial island of Azores. For the testing purposes, an experimental test setup was developed based on a self-equilibrated scheme, which is herein described reporting on the advantages and drawbacks of this in situ test setup.Five specimens were tested aiming at characterizing the out-of-plane behavior of stone masonry walls and strengthening solutions recommended for post-earthquake interventions. A detailed comparison between solutions' efficiency is presented including a cost vs benefit analysis.In order to assess the efficiency of the developed test setup for other applications on stone masonry walls, an in-plane test on an existing URM panel is also presented. Several related issues are discussed, namely the advantages of dealing with the real boundary conditions and the capacity of providing valuable information of the response, as well as a detailed analysis of the obtained results.The authors believe that this work provides an increase in knowledge on the seismic behavior of the existing masonry constructions, resulting from the development of an in situ test setup and the efficiency quantification of strengthening solutions. Therefore, the work is thought to positively contribute for the preservation of architectural heritage and for its seismic vulnerability reduction.