TECHNICAL REPORT ON MECHANICAL TESTS ON MASONRY: THE TWIN PANEL SHEAR COMPRESSION TEST (TPT) AND THE DIAGONAL COMPRESSION TEST

In order to evaluate the seismic performance of existing unreinforced masonry buildings by means of simplified methods or numerical analysis, a preventive calibration of the material basic mechanical parameters is needed. The most common tests aimed to evaluate the shear behaviour of masonry panels are the diagonal compression test and the shear-compression test. The first is a destructive test, useful to evaluate the tensile strength, the shear elastic modulus and the ductility of the masonry. The shear compression test is a destructive test generally much more directed to the evaluation of the monotonic/cyclic performance of the structural elements, but it can even so be profitably used to calculate the tensile and shear strength of the material. In this report a particular shear compression testing method, the Twin Panel Test (TPT), is presented and an application aimed at deducing the mechanical parameters of a rubble stone masonry typology is described. In fact, the TPT was carried out within the test campaign performed in the Volterra (Pisa) hospital complex which are described herein.