Ilaria Senaldi¹, Gabriele Guerrini¹, Simone Scherini¹, Simone Morganti¹,
Guido Magenes^1,2, Katrin Beyer³, and Andrea Penna^1,2
1 Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Pavia,
via Ferrata 3, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
{ilaria.senaldi,gabriele.guerrini,simone.morganti,guido.magenes,andrea.penna}@unipv.it,
simone.scherini01@universitadipavia.it,
2 European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering,
via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
3 Civil Engineering Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,
Bâtiment CE 3316, Station 1, CH – 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
katrin.beyer@epfl.ch

Keywords: Natural stone masonry, Hydraulic lime mortar, Similitude relationships, Material characterization tests, Cyclic shear-compression tests.

Abstract. This paper discusses the material characterization tests on stone masonry specimens, and the in-plane cyclic shear-compression tests on four half-scale unreinforced stone masonry piers, which complement a shaking-table test on a half-scale building aggregate prototype. Material characterization tests allowed defining a mortar composition suitable for satisfying the similitude relationships associated with the half-scale tests. Vertical and diagonal compression tests provided a complete description of the mechanical properties of masonry assemblies, while in-plane cyclic shear-compression tests allow determining the hysteretic behavior of masonry piers with different aspect ratios and axial compression levels. Strength and displacement capacities corresponding to the observed damage mechanisms and failure modes were also identified and associated with the specimens geometric and loading conditions. These activities are part of an experimental and numerical research project jointly carried by the University of Pavia, Italy, and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, which aims at assessing the seismic vulnerability of natural stone masonry building aggregates of the historical center of Basel, Switzerland.