Shake table testing of out-of-plane URM wall - Wall A (flexible/flexible, 3-wythe)

A shake table test of an unreinforced masonry wall section spanning one floor. This experiment documents the testing of one specimen out of a total of five specimens tested in the project. Parameters varied among the specimens are wall height and the horizontal stiffness of the supports at the top and base of the walls. Each wall was tested by running a ground motion repeatedly at increasing amplitude until collapse was observed. Rigid-body rocking behaviour of cracked walls and their interaction with various flexible diaphragm conditions were observed.

In this experiment, the wall specimen is 3 wythes thick, and 4 m tall, with an h/t of 13.6. The wall is connected to flexible diaphragms at the top and bottom. Top and bottom diaphragm stiffnesses are the same. The characteristic period of the wall-diaphragm system is approximately 1.6 seconds at top and bottom.