Failure of masonry infill walls under out-of-plane loads
The failure of infills, which may develop both in-plane and/or out-of-plane, causes casualty risk and heavy socio-economic consequences. In addition, the total or partial collapse of an infill may lead to unfavourable conditions affecting the overall structural response, such as the formation of an open storey. The collapse of infill walls, especially in the out-of-plane direction, may occur even for moderate intensity of the ground motion. For these reasons, the interest in the out-of-plane behaviour of masonry walls has been growing in the last years.