Earthen masonry infill walls: Use of wooden boards as sliding joints for seismic resistance

The paper describes the results of quasi-static tests performed on a real-scale adobe masonry infill wall partitioned into sub-panels by means of the introduction of vertical wooden planks, acting as sliding joints. The specimen was tested both in-plane and out-of-plane, exhibiting good performance in terms of both stability against out-of-plane actions and in-plane deformation capacity and damage control. The results emphasize the applicability of adobe masonry as material for infill walls in seismic prone regions, coupling the good structural response with the inherent positive performance in terms of indoor ambient comfort and production sustainability demonstrated in literature.