The building envelope in Europe is usually made of masonry walls, with enclosure and infill
functions. Masonry walls have a major economical importance and contribute significantly to
the building performance. Even if infill walls have no load-bearing function, they contribute
significantly to the seismic behavior of buildings. Therefore, their adequate structural
performance is needed, avoiding the occurrence of severe in-plane damage, with very large
economical losses, and the out-of-plane expulsion, which additionally represents a large risk
for human life.
Recent earthquake codes in Europe require the safety assessment of non-structural elements
(parapets, veneer masonry walls, infill walls, etc.), when their collapse entails risks for people
or for the main structure. The Eurocode standards, entering the mandatory stage now,
incorporate new requirements to be fulfilled by buildings or their parts. Such is the case of
masonry infilled RC frames whose panels, according to Eurocode 8, are explicitly required to
withstand the out-of-plane movement induced by earthquakes. Appropriate measures should
be taken to avoid brittle failure and premature disintegration of the infill walls, as well as the
partial or total out-of-plane collapse of slender masonry panels.
This paper presents the experimental work and results achieved by applying cyclic out-ofplane
loads to damaged masonry infilled RC frames. The masonry panels were previously
damaged by applying an in-plane cyclic load after which the cyclic out-of- plane loads were
applied. The frames and panels tested follow the traditional Portuguese RC structure
construction system to which different types of reinforcement have been introduced in the
panels
