Experimental Tests of An Engineered Seismic Solution of Masonry Infills With Sliding Joints

Abstract eng:
Within the European FP7 Project “INSYSME”, the research unit of the University of Pavia has conceived a new seismic resistant clay masonry infill system with the purpose of controlling damage in the masonry and reducing detrimental effects of the panel-frame interaction, through a combined use of sliding joints inserted in the masonry and deformable joints at the wall-frame interface. The idea behind the proposed solution stems from principles already implemented in the past, in particular with reference to work by Mohammadi et al. [1] and Preti et al. [2]. The originality of this solution stays both in the adoption of different and innovative materials for the implementation of the flexible and sliding joints and in the experimental test and specimen types. An extensive experimental campaign has been performed, constituted by in-plane cyclic tests on one-storey one-bay full scale RC bare frame and on two different configurations of infilled frames (one full and one with a central opening) followed by out-of-plane shaking-table dynamic tests; a shaking-table dynamic test on a full scale two storey building has also been performed. The seismic tests on the substructures and on the building have been supplemented with tests of characterization on single materials and masonry. In this paper, besides the main characteristics of the proposed system, the most significant results of the mechanical characterization and of the in-plane cyclic tests on the RC bare, on the fully and on the partially infilled frames are reported and discussed. A comparison in terms of the experimental seismic performance between the engineered solution and a traditional infill is also performed, showing a strong reduction of the level of damage, both at moderate/low and at large deformation demand for the latter as respect to the former system, on the infill both with and without opening. The in-plane test results prove the ability of the proposed solution of limiting the level of damage at different seismic intensity, providing a prominent reduction of the cost of reparability after seismic events and a wide margin towards the life safety requirements. Although design and construction optimization of the system needs to be implemented, above all in the case of short infill panels and of walls with opening, the results of the in-plane tests appear very promising about the use of this solution as an efficient seismic resistant nonstructural element in RC buildings.

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