The role of the openings in the out-of-plane behaviour of masonry infill walls

This research work aims to present an experimental study concerning the effect of openings in out-of-plane (OOP) behaviour masonry infills RC buildings. The campaign comprises OOP testing three full-scale infill walls made up horizontal hollow clay bricks, two them with a central window and remaining one door. One specimens opening was first subjected previous in-plane test and, after that, damaged wall test. All tests consisted applying loading–unloading-reloading history imposed displacements direction through uniformly distributed load. An innovative setup used adapted for each typology. results are presented terms force–displacement responses, damage evolution, relative stiffness energy dissipation capacity. Finally, compared other assess of: i) area opening; ii) damage. It found that reduced maximum strength 30% undamaged panels, it occurred lower displacement demands. increase did not affect peak load; however, their capacity significantly. from 42% 70%.