The design of a shaking table campaign on the out-of-plane response of masonry structures

University of Minho, ISISE, ARISE, Department of Civil Engineering, Guimarães, Portugal

^* Corresponding author: dariovecchio4@yahoo.it

Abstract

Despite the widespread presence in earthquake-prone areas, unreinforced masonry heritage buildings are significantly vulnerable to seismic events. Among the possible failures, the out-of-plane mechanism poses the greatest potential for collapse and involves inherent complexities. In particular, one-way and two-way bending are significantly recurrent yet not fully understood mechanisms, thus requiring further in-depth investigations. Such mechanisms can be idealized as single- or multi-rigid bodies experiencing rotational motions around two pivot points at the base. Albeit engineering applications are still limiting their approach to the use of static tools, the current research studies seek to forecast the dynamic behaviour of structures during the complete time history of any seismic actions. Nevertheless, it is apparent the necessity of experimental evidence to support the development of more advanced models capable of closely predicting the out-of-plane response. This paper presents the design of an extensive shaking table experimental campaign conducted at the Structural Laboratory of the University of Minho (Portugal), within the scope of the STAND4HERITAGE (New Standards for Seismic Assessment of Built Cultural Heritage) project. The campaign envisages the study of the dynamics of dry-joint masonry structures subjected to out-of-plane actions. The goal is to enlarge the experimental database currently available in the literature and to provide data for the validation of analytical and numerical models.