Author
T.G. GARWOOD Bolton Institute of Higher Education

Abstract
Two 1.565m deep prestressed brickwork 1-section walls were constructed, the first having an unpierced web and the second having an access opening located centrally at the bottom of the web. Each wall was tested by applying an increasing horizontal load, 4.6m above the base, in the plane of the web. In the first wall, decompression at the foot of the rear face was followed by cracking along the bottom bed joint and, after bodily rotation about the foot of the front flange, shear failure occurredat a load of400kN. In the second wall, the vertical forces in the T-section columns either side of the opening and the distribution of horizontal load were investigated. When the applied load was 360kN, with a small residual compression in the rear column, the wall failed in shear, the crack pattern being very similar to that of the first wall.