Shake-table testing of a full-scale URM cavity-wall building (EUC-BUILD-1)

A shaking table test was performed on a two-storey full-scale unreinforced masonry (URM) building, simulating the end unit of a typical Dutch terraced house. The test structure was built with cavity walls and without any specific seismic design or detailing. Cavity walls have an inner load-bearing leaf and an outer leaf with aesthetic and weather-protection functions. The load-bearing masonry was made of calcium silicate bricks, supporting two reinforced concrete floors. Two gable walls supported a pitched timber roof. The veneer was made of clay bricks connected to the inner masonry with steel ties, as seen in common construction practices. The specimen was subjected to a cumulative incremental dynamic test up to the near-collapse limit state, with input motions consistent with the characteristics of induced seismicity ground motions.

The shake-table tests were conducted in 2015 at the SHAKELAB testing facilities of the EUCENTRE in Pavia, Italy. They were part of the EUCENTRE Foundation project 'Study of the vulnerability of masonry buildings in Groningen', within the research framework programme on hazard and risk of induced seismicity in the Groningen province, sponsored by the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij BV (NAM). The project was carried out in collaboration with the research group of Masonry Structures from the University of Pavia in Italy.