PSI - Issue 44

Marta Del Zoppo et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 44 (2023) 2158–2165 Del Zoppo et al./ Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2022) 000 – 000

2161

4

3. Results and discussion In the following sections, the experimental results are presented for each specimen and the comparison between the outcome from the different tested configurations is discussed. 3.1. As built configuration (URM) The URM specimen exhibited a flexural behavior under the out-of-plane loading. The out-of-plane deformed shape of the specimen has been derived from the LVDT records and it is plotted in Fig. 3 for several load values, including the peak load and the failure condition (defined as a strength degradation of 20% with respect to the peak load). The plot shows that the deformed shape of the wall is quite symmetrical with respect to the midspan up to the peak load, equal to 36 kN. The failure mode is governed by the development of a major crack in the bed joint mortar located just below the upper loading roller, as shown in Fig. 3, progressively crossing the entire thickness of the wall. At failure, the deformed shape shows slightly higher out-of-plane displacements in the upper part of the wall near the crack. Out-of-plane force-deformation curves for the URM specimen are reported in Fig. 4. In detail, the curves are plotted for the top, mid and bottom lines recorded through the LVDTs. The plots show that the out-of plane displacements at the mid-span of the wall are generally greater than those recorded at the top and bottom measurement lines, except from last step of the test before failure where the red curve (i.e., top) slightly higher displacements.

Fig. 3. Deformed shape and crack development.

Fig. 4. Force-displacement curves for the URM wall.