# Development of a System for Cyclic Shear Tests on Full-Scale Walls
## 1 Introduction
#### Shear Test Types of Setup and Their Characteristics  
The shear test on full-scale masonry panels generally consists of a horizontal load applied at the top of the wall, which must be fixed to a rigid base. However, [PERSON] [14] presents an inventory of in-plane shear experiments in masonry panels (mostly monotonic) and points out that both the boundary conditions in the upper part of the panel and how the horizontal forces are applied may vary. Table 1 chronologically presents some experimental setup types used in cyclic shear tests performed on full-scale elements. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**References** & **Type of Experimental Setup** & **Description** \\ \hline
[15] & Shear without external vertical load; free rotation; shear combined with bending. & A deformation-controlled horizontal cyclic loading was applied on a reinforced concrete beam at the top of the wall panels. The frame used to apply the load was not described. \\ \hline
[16] & Shear without external vertical load; rotation partially restrained; laterally distributed load. & The masonry panels were inside a steel frame, which was cyclic and quasi-statically loaded horizontally. The steel frame pillars, in theory, can transfer horizontal loads in a distributed way (non-uniformly) on the side of the wall. \\ \hline
[17,18] & Shear with external vertical load; rotation restrained; double bending. & The investigations were focused on the behavior of reinforced masonry panels under earthquake loading, and all carried out experiments using the same setup. Two vertical actuators acted to restrain rotation at the top of the walls, and a horizontal actuator applied forces at a rigid beam. \\ \hline
[19] & Shear with external vertical load; rotation restrained; double bending. & The vertical force was applied first, and the horizontal cyclic load was then applied, keeping the vertical jacks’ valves closed. No rotation was theoretically possible, and the double-bending condition was present. As a consequence of the test mode, the vertical load increased together with the horizontal load, depending on the stiffness degradation. Tests were performed according to the Rilem Guidelines (1998). The test setup, however, had as a differential the fact that the top of the wall was attached to the underside of a reaction slab, while the horizontal load was applied to the reinforced concrete base on which the wall was built, which was located on a mobile platform. The vertical jacks were not installed on the top of the masonry, but below the mobile platform. \\ \hline
[20,21,22,23,24] &
\begin{tabular}{c} [PERSON] et al. [25] presented the interpretation of the results of shear tests on clay unit masonry walls carried out in different laboratories throughout Europe: ZAG—Jibblana—Slovenia (ZAG), University of Dortmund—Germany (UD), University of Padua—Italy (UPD), UTCB—Bucharest—Romania (UTCB), and University of Pavia and EUCENTRE—Italy (UPV—EUC). In the case of cyclic lateral tests, the walls had been subjected to constant vertical load and cyclically acting horizontal loading. The horizontal load had been applied in the form of programmed displacements, cyclically imposed in both directions, with step-wise increased amplitudes up to the collapse of the specimens with different typologies and dimensions. \\ \hline
[26] & Shear with external vertical load; rotation restrained; double bending. & Cyclic shear tests were carried out on plain and carbon fiber polymers retrofitted masonry walls. The vertical (axial) force was kept constant during the test (control in force) and was uniformly distributed by a rigid steel beam of the pantograph. Due to the pantograph, the rotation of the upper beam was constrained, and the specimens were tested in double curvature. The cyclic lateral force was applied under constant axial load in the second step. The cyclic load was controlled in displacements due to the inelastic behavior envisaged for the tested specimens. \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}