ABSTRACT
In order to reproduce the seismic response of masonry piers in laboratory cyclic shear tests, the boundary conditions need to be similar to those in actual buildings. If the similarity is not adequate, tests may predict unrealistic behaviour, and in the worst case, even unrealistic failure mechanisms. To study the effect of different boundary conditions, eight walls built with hollow clay units and general purpose mortar were tested under four different boundary conditions. The results show that different boundary conditions have a strong influence on force and displacement capacity of the walls.
