# Development of a System for Cyclic Shear Tests on Full-Scale Walls
## 3 Test Setup Description
### Support Subsystem  
This subsystem comprises the following elements (and their respective functions): reaction gantry (serving as a simple support for the loading transfer subsystem), counterweight set (acting as a simple support for the main test beam), support rod (serving as support for the counterweight set and the displacement restriction devices), and displacement restriction devices (serving as lateral support for the main test beam). The gantry was built with stiffened H 300 \(\times\) 300 steel beams, with modulated holes every 16 cm in the pillars and the two beams installed jointly in the upper part (Figure 10a). The bases were fixed as described in Section 3.1, and a set of unidirectional rollers was installed at the top of the upper beam to function as a simple support for the lower face of the main test beam. This configuration was sufficient for out-of-plane shear tests involving small resistive horizontal forces. However, for the in-plane tests where the resistive forces were, on average, five times higher than the out-of-plane forces, it was also necessary to install a beam with another set of unidirectional rollers on the top part of the test beam (Figure 10b,c), to prevent the detachment of the beam from the gantry and rotation due to torsion at this point. Steel cubes were also installed on the upper part, where two systems of spherical rollers were laterally fixed to prevent horizontal displacements of the main beam at this point (Figure 10b,c). At the same time, metal plates were welded to the test beam to allow it to slide freely on the spherical rollers. Figure 10: (**a**) Reaction gantry. (**b,c**) Details of the set of rollers for vertical, horizontal, and torsional support. A suspension cable linked to a constant mass counterweight was installed and connected to a pulley system (Figure 11), aiming to support a loading transfer subsystem near the servo-actuator and simultaneously allowing movement at this point. This device could balance the loading transfer subsystem in the initial position and reduce the incidence of shear forces on the actuator and the shear forces next to the load cell installed close to the wall specimens. Once the counterweight system was installed and calibrated, the vertical movement of the test beam could be tested manually by just one person, even with some effort attributed to the friction and inertial forces of the system. In addition, the pulley system allowed the mass needed to balance the counterweight to be approximately 57% of the mass at the point of suspension, facilitating calibration and the operation of the loading, support, and load transfer subsystems. The support rod was a structure created with a double function: to support the elements of the counterweight assembly and to prevent lateral movements of the test beam  
Figure 11: (a) Detail of the pulleys and trolleys set. (b) Suspension of the counterweight on the pulleys set with steel cable. (c) Suspended counterweight. close to the suspension point (Figure 12). To support the counterweight set, a transverse I-shaped steel beam was fixed at the top of the rod, where two hand trolleys with a capacity of 1 ton each were installed. The end of the steel cable was attached to one fixed trolley, while one of the pulleys was attached to the other. The other pulley was installed inverted on a bar attached to the test beam. As this installation of pulleys took place using eye nuts, rotation was allowed. Plates with double spherical rollers were installed in vertical H 300 \(\times\) 300 steel beams with about 1 m in height on both sides, aiming to restrict the beam's movement near the suspension point (torsion rotations and horizontal out-of-plane displacements). At the same time, steel plates were welded to the sides of the beam, allowing it to slide freely on the spherical rollers. It is necessary that the half stroke of the actuator coincides with the axis of the lateral confinement plates, over which the rollers will slide.