The structural stability of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls has to be guaranteed not only under static (permanent and live) loads but also under earthquake loads. Loads transverse to the plane (out-of-plane) often have a decisive influence on the load-bearing capacity. In practical applications, simplified methods from codes, guidelines and literature are often used to analyse and evaluate the out-of-plane capacity of load-bearing and non-load-bearing URM walls. The results of these simplified methods can be significantly conservative and inaccurate since essential influencing effects are neglected. For many existing buildings, the simplified methods underestimate the capacity, which leads to cost-intensive retrofitting and strengthening measures or complete replacement by other wall systems.
In order to realistically estimate the out-of-plane capacity, parameters such as wall geometry, boundary conditions, vertical loads and especially dynamic effects (e.g. inertia forces) have to be taken into account. In this paper, non-linear time history simulations are presented to investigate the influence of these effects. The numerically determined maximum acceptable earthquake acceleration is compared with results from simplified analysis models. The comparison shows that the out-of-plane capacity is significantly higher than the values predicted by simplified models. Finally, several initial experimental seismic tests conducted on the shaking table of the TU Kaiserslautern are presented, together with the planned extensive experimental test program on the out-of-plane capacity of masonry walls.