1 PhD Student, ETH Zurich, Institute of Structural Engineering, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland, salmanpour@ibk.baug.ethz.ch
2 Senior Scientist, ETH Zurich, Institute of Structural Engineering, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland, mojsilovic@ibk.baug.ethz.ch
3 Professor, ETH Zurich, Institute of Technology in Architecture, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland, josephs@ethz.ch
ABSTRACT
A research project on the deformation capacity of unreinforced structural masonry is underway at the Institute of Structural Engineering of ETH Zurich. The development of the basic building blocks for the displacement-based design of masonry structures is the objective of the present research project, which should be seen as a first step in an investigation of the limits of the deformation capacity of structural masonry. After a thorough survey and assessment of existing experimental and analytical research in the area of the deformation capacity of structural masonry, we started our own experimental program. It has been planned in two phases, i.e. preliminary and main phases, and consists of a total of 11 cyclic quasi-static tests on full-scale unreinforced masonry walls made of clay and calcium-silicate blocks to investigate the effects of the various factors, i.e. unit type, vertical pre-compression level, aspect ratio, size effect and boundary conditions on the deformation capacity of structural masonry. This paper presents and discusses the first results obtained from the preliminary phase of the above mentioned experimental program.
KEYWORDS: deformation capacity, experimental study, cyclic-static test, structural masonry, URM
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