Seismic performances of modern unreinforced thermal insulation clay blocks masonry houses

In the scope of the transnational access activities of the European research project SERIES, the Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) has provided access to its 3D shaking table to the international construction company Wienerberger AG and to a group of European experts, in order to perform full-scale seismic tests on an industrial solution for buildings using a modern unreinforced thermal insulation clay block masonry structure. Such solution represents a very common construction method in Central Europe but, although some cyclic shear test results are available, its effective dynamic response under seismic events still requires experimental validation. For this purpose, two full-scale mock-ups with different geometries were tested on the 3-D shaking table using a series of seismic records with increasing intensity. The first mock-up is plan-regular, while the second one is designed so as to trigger some torsional effects. This paper summarizes the most relevant experimental results regarding the structural response of the specimens, e.g., the dynamic response evolution, the collapse mechanism identified and the maximum drift values measured. It also focuses on two different easy modelling strategies, i.e. simple model according to a combined Eurocode 6/Eurocode 8 approach and equivalent frame approach. It finally compares the predictions obtained from these two methods with the experimental results.