Influence of boundary conditions on the out-of-plane response of brick masonry walls in buildings with RC slabs

In modern unreinforced masonry buildings with stiff RC slabs, walls of the top floor are most susceptible to out-of-plane failure. The out-of-plane response depends not only on the acceleration demand and wall geometry but also on the static and kinematic boundary conditions of the walls. This paper discusses the influence of these boundary conditions on the out-of-plane response through evaluation of shake table test results and numerical modelling. As a novum, it shows that the in-plane response of flanking elements, which are orthogonal to the wall whose out-of-plane response is studied, has a significant influence on the vertical restraint at the top of the walls. The most critical configuration exists if the flanking elements are unreinforced masonry walls that rock. In this case, the floor slabs can uplift, and the out-of-plane load-bearing walls loose the vertical restraint at the top. Numerical modelling confirms this experimentally observed behaviour and shows that slab uplift and the difference in base and top excitation have a strong influence on the out-of-plane response of the walls analysed. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.