The effect of prior out-of-plane damage on the in-plane behavior of unreinforced masonry infilled frames

In order to address the effect of prior out-of-plane damage on the in-plane behavior of unreinforced masonry infills, two full-scale (24 feet tall by 28 feet long) structural clay tile infills and one frame-only (no infilling) were constructed and tested. The infilled frame, consisting of two wide flange columns surrounded by masonry plasters and an eccentric wide flange purlin, was identical to many of the infills located at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. The masonry infill was approximately 12.5 inches thick and was composed of individual four- and eight-inch hollow clay tile (HCT) units. One of the infill panels was tested out-of-plane by four quasi-static actuators -- two on each column. The test structure was deflected out-of-plane equally at all four actuator locations in order to simulate the computed deflection path of the top and bottom chords of a roof truss framing into the columns at these locations. Prior to the infill testing, a bare frame was loaded similarly in order to determine the behavior and stiffness contribution of the frame only. Following the out-of-plane test of the infilled panel, the structure was loaded in-plane to failure in order to ascertain residual strength. A second, identical infilled frame was thenmore » constructed and tested in-plane to failure. In this way, in-plane behavior with and without prior out-of-plane damage could be established and compared. For both out-of-plane and in-plane testing, reversed-cyclic quasi-static loading was used in order to obtain full tension/compression hystereses. Also, natural frequencies of the first infilled panel were determined before and after the out-of-plane testing. This paper describes the test series and discusses the conclusions pertinent to the effect of out-of-plane cracking on in-plane stiffness and behavior.« less