Abstract:
ABSTRACT: Exterior house brick veneers and those of pressed earth bricks performed poorly in the Christchurch earthquake sequence. Adobe (sun dried earth) bricks are currently used as 150mm thick veneers, sometimes internally. Improvements to wall integrity and fixing were developed but needed to be validated for wider use. Reversing tilt tests were carried out on 1.8m and 2.4m wall panels and a 3m high x 4m wide wall with 1.9m opening built on hinged footings to apply out-of-plane loads. An excavator was used to move the wall by cyclic tilting backwards up to 45 degrees (0.71g) and forward 80 degrees (0.98g). Additionally the excavator induced dynamic out-of-plane accelerations into the 2.4m wall panel to a peak value of 2.64g without failure. Following this a similar procedure was applied to the large 3m wall with lintel, static loads were applied first, followed by out-of-plane vibrational accelerations of 1.64g. Cracking was observed but there was no brick dropout or evident tie failures. These accelerations and tests provided confidence in this simple but effective tilt test methodology and strengthened confidence in the adobe veneer system proposed for use in New Zealand.
