Author
HAACH, V. G.; VASCONCELOS, G.; LOURENÇO, P. B.ISISE,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Azurém, Guimarães, Portugal

Abstract
This paper aims at presenting results of an experimental program in reinforced masonry walls subjected to reversed cyclic lateral loading and the comparison of these results with the prediction provided by existent design methods. Horizontal reinforcement ratio, pre-compression, geometry units and bond masonry are the main parameters variables in experimental program. A database composed by results of in-plane tests in several walls with different characteristics is created from the literature adding the experimental results of this work. Experimental values are compared with analytical results of design methods suggested by Eurocode 6, Brunner and Shing and Tomaževic .Results indicated that Eurocode 6 provides very safe values for lateral strength of masonry walls and Tomaževic’s design method for unreinforced masonry walls under shear can be used to predict diagonal cracking of reinforced masonry walls.

Key words
Shear, flexure, design methods, masonry walls