ID1375: Full-scale seismic testing of modern unreinforced thermal insulation clay block masonry houses

MENDES, L.1; CANDEIAS, P.2; CORREIA, A.3; COSTA, A.C.4; COELHO, E.5; JÄGER, A.6; LU, S.7; DEGÉE, H.8; MORDANT, C.9

1 Postdoctoral Researcher, LNEC, Structures Department & ICIST, luis.marcos.mendes@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

2 Postdoctoral Researcher, LNEC, Structures Department, pcandeias@lnec.pt

3 Postdoctoral Researcher, LNEC, Structures Department, aacorreia@lnec.pt

4 Principal Researcher, LNEC, Structures Department, alf@lnec.pt

5 Principal Researcher, LNEC, Structures Department, ema.coelho@lnec.pt

6 R&D Manager, Wienerberger AG, Product Management Wall Solutions International, Andreas.jaeger@wienerberger.com

7 Consulting Engineer, suikai.lu@gmail.com

8 Professor, University of Liège – Hasselt University, Construction Engineering Research Unit, herve.degee@uhasselt.be

9 PhD Student, University of Liège, Structural Engineering Division, cmordant@ulg.ac.be

 

In the scope of the transnational access activities of the European research project SERIES, the Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) has provided access to its 3-D shaking table to the international construction company Wienerberger AG and to a group of European experts, in order to perform full-scale seismic tests on an industrial solution for buildings using a modern unreinforced thermal insulation clay block masonry structure.

Such solution represents a very common construction method in Central Europe and, although there are cyclic shear test results available, its effective dynamic response under seismic events still requires experimental validation. For this purpose, two full-scale mock-ups with different geometries were tested on the 3-D shaking table using a series of seismic records with increasing intensity.

This paper focuses on the most relevant experimental results regarding the structural response of the specimens, e.g., the dynamic response evolution, the collapse mechanism identified and the maximum drift values measured. The paper closes with the main conclusions drawn and with proposals for future developments.

 

Keywords: Modern masonry, Full-scale testing, Shaking table