Mechanical characterization and force-displacement hysteretic curves from in-plane cyclic tests on strong masonry infills

Abstract

This article contains information related to a recent study “Performance-based interpretation of in-plane cyclic tests on RC frames with strong masonry infills” (Morandi et al., 2017 [1]). Motivated by the necessity to improve the knowledge of the in-plane seismic response of rigid strong masonry infills, a wide experimental campaign based on in-plane cyclic tests on full-scale RC infilled frame specimens, supplemented with a complete characterization of the materials, has been conducted at the laboratory of the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Pavia. The masonry is constituted by vertically perforated 35 cm thick clay units with tongue and groove and dry head-joints and general-purpose mortar bed-joints. The paper reports the results of the mechanical characterization and of the force-displacement hysteretic curves from the in-plane cyclic tests.

A new macromodel for the assessment of the seismic response of infilled RC frames

“…The proposed macro‐element is validated by comparison with results of laboratory tests carried out by other researchers on single‐storey, single‐span RC infilled frames . The masonry infill of these frames is built with (i) weak hollow clay blocks, (ii) solid calcarenite bricks, or (iii) strong hollow clay blocks.…”

“…The values of the main mechanical parameters of the above masonry types have been obtained from specific laboratory tests carried out by the same researchers that performed cyclic pushover tests on the examined infilled frames . The other mechanical parameters have been calibrated so as to achieve an accurate simulation of the experimental response of the infilled frames.…”

“…In this section, only the in‐plane cyclic response of frames TNT, TA2, and TA4 is numerically simulated (Figure 8). This response is described in detail in Morandi et al and reported in terms of base shear force vs lateral displacement in the supplementary report of Morandi et al…”

“…The values of the main mechanical parameters in the uniaxial models of concrete and longitudinal steel bars are assigned to be consistent with the results of laboratory tests . Further, the uniaxial models of unconfined and confined concretes are defined by different values of the mechanical parameters.…”

“…Based on the adopted mesh of macro‐elements, the columns of both models and the beam of model TA2 are divided into seven elements each, while the beam of model TA4 is divided into 13 elements. The main mechanical parameters of the axial/flexural and shear responses of masonry are assigned based on the results of the laboratory tests performed in Pavia . These tests included compression tests on clay units in the directions orthogonal or parallel to the holes, flexural and compression tests on prism‐shaped specimens of mortar, compression tests on masonry wallets, and direct sliding shear tests (triplets).…”