Robustness of hollow clay masonry units and seismic behaviour of masonry walls

As the recent experimental investigations indicated, the robustness of masonry units is one among the most decisive parameters which define the behaviour of masonry walls when subjected to seismic loads. If local brittle failure of units occurs, the mechanism of behaviour and known relationships between the strength and ductility properties of masonry walls change. In such a case, the design values of load bearing and energy dissipation capacity of masonry walls are overestimated, although the equations and requirements specified in the codes have been taken into consideration. If brittle units are used for the construction of structural walls, the actual structure will be exposed to an increased level of seismic risk although it has been designed for earthquake loads according to codes. This is especially the case of reinforced masonry, where brittle local failure prevents the transfer of predicted forces from reinforcing steel to masonry units. In order to provide limitations for the use of hollow units with large hole volume ratio and thin shells and webs in seismic areas, a measure to define the qualitative term “sufficient robustness”, specified in Eurocode 8, should be found.