ABSTRACT
Abstract Earlierreportedfieldobservationsofthesettlementprofilesofanumberofmultiwindowedbuildingfacadesdemonstratedthatthecomponentofsheardeformation withinthemasonryfabricwasusuallyconsiderablygreaterthanthatcausedbyin-plane bending.Thesheardeformationisseentotakeplacewithinthespandrelwall;thatisthe masonrybetweenhorizontalrowsofdoorandwindowopenings.Testsatfullscaleto modelthespandreldetailshowtwophasesofcrackpropagation;thefirstisbrought aboutbybendingstrainsandthesecondbymoregeneralshearfailure.Afterthefirst phaseofeachtest,bed-jointreinforcementwasintroducedtosuppressfurtherbending crackstrain.Theeffectofthereinforcementwasthenassessedbytheadditional deformationtoleranceitprovided.Theresultsshowenoughincreasedtolerance sufficienttojustifydeployingreinforcementasamethodofmasonrycrackdamage repair. Keywords:Masonryrepair,shearcracks,bed-jointreinforcement.
