Dynamic testing of as-built clay brick unreinforced masonry parapets

Unreinforced masonry (URM) parapets are free-standing components located above the perimeter walls of URM buildings and pose a significant falling hazard that has resulted in numerous injuries and costly repairs in recent earthquakes around the world. When subjected to earthquake-induced loads, as-built URM parapets are prone to horizontal cracking at the roof level followed by the initiation of rocking, which leads to cantilever-type out-of-plane failure. In response to these observations, the earthquake performance of 13 full-scale solid clay brick URM parapets when subjected to out-of-plane dynamic loading was experimentally investigated using a shake-table. To mimic in-situ conditions for the most commonly encountered configurations, recycled solid clay bricks and a variety of mortar mixes were used for the tested parapets. Two-leaf-thick (230 mm) and 1200 mm wide parapets with height ranging between 720 mm and 1605 mm were tested. Valuable experimental data was attained to assess the dynamic response of as-built URM parapets, and the results were compared with the assessment procedures available in the literature and current guidelines for practice.