Application of Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Technique for Semi Interlocking Masonry (SIM) Panels under Large Cyclic In-Plane Shear Displacement.

Semi interlocking masonry (SIM) is an innovative masonry building system which is being developed in the Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability at The University of Newcastle, Australia. It utilizes a special method of interlocking of mortar-less engineered masonry panels made of semi-interlocking masonry (SIM) units which possess significant energy dissipation capacity due to friction on sliding bed joints between units of the panel during a seismic event. This special method of interlocking SIM bricks allows relative sliding of unit courses in-plane of a wall and prevents out-of-plane relative movement of units. Because all bed joints in a SIM panel are sliding joints, SIM panels can withstand large in-plane displacements without damage. To test SIM panels, a special steel frame with pin connections at each corner was designed and built. The arrangement with pin connections allows application of in-plane shear distortion to the panel of up to 120 mm. The study presented herein focused on the experimental investigation of displacement capacities of three different types of panels (panel with open gap between the steel frame and top of the panel, panel with foam in the gap, panel with grout in the gap) with two types of SIM units. The paper expands significantly from the previously published conference paper and examines the behavior of SIM panels subject to 100 mm (5% storey drift) cyclic in-plane lateral displacement on six SIM panels. The horizontal and vertical movement of SIM units were recorded using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) every 10 s over approximately 8 h of testing. This study reveals that the DIC displacement outputs show good agreement with displacements measured using traditional instrumentation, even at large displacements (up to 100 mm). The structural performance of the SIM panels is also analyzed and potential joint opening widths are quantified under large displacement by plotting the outputs from DIC results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]