In-plane shear behaviour of Brick Masonry - A Literature Review on experimental study

Masonry buildings are brittle in nature and one of the most vulnerable among the different types of structural buildings under strong earthquake shaking. Horizontal loads, induced by earthquake causes severe in-plane and out of plane forces in wall. A wall topples down easily if pushed horizontally at the top in a direction perpendicular to its plane (out - of plane), but offers much greater resistance if pushed along its length (in-plane). The lateral load resistance of masonry buildings is mainly due to in-plane shear resistance of the masonry elements/piers. Therefore detailed investigation on the in-plane shear behaviour of masonry thus becomes necessary. Earthquake performance of a masonry wall is very sensitive to the properties of its constituents, namely masonry units and mortar. The shearing strength of masonry mainly depends upon the bond or adhesion at the contact surface between the masonry unit and the mortar. Thus, it is very important to improve the shear behaviour of masonry buildings. The primary gap identified through literature review was the lack of experimental research that addressed the response of masonry shear walls. This paper contains a review on the shear test conducted to improve the lateral load resistance of masonry walls.