ABSTRACT
The ongoing revision of Eurocode 6 is an occasion to reconsider the criteria for verifying the second-order effects in URM walls subjected to combined vertical and out-of-plane loading. The current method proposed in Eurocode 6 is based on an axial load capacity reduction factor (ϕm ), the values of which are estimated with an approximate model, conservative for a significant wall stiffness range. Moreover, the fact that the safety verification of walls subjected to significant lateral loading (e.g. seismic action) should be carried out in terms of lateral flexural capacity, also accounting for second-order effects, is still not fully recognised. For this verification, a moment capacity reduction factor (ϕM ) can be defined, similarly to ϕm . Therefore, this paper provides: a refined numerical evaluation of the ϕ factors; the demonstration of their one-to-one correspondence; new models for their prediction and the recalibration of a recently proposed model; comparisons with results from literature.
