Publication
The masonry chapter of the new Eurocode 8 Part 1 contains several novelties, including new differentiation between unreinforced masonry typologies with regard to drift capacities and therefore q(D)-factors. Drift capacity models for masonry walls are empirical models obtained from experimental data. This paper summarises some of the reflections that underlie the drift capacity models developed for Eurocode 8 Part 1-2 and complements analyses provided in the associated background document. It discusses the definition of drift capacity for cyclic shear-compression tests in the literature and puts forward a new, less conservative definition of the drift capacity. An analysis of data on 115 hollow core clay brick walls can identify size effects if all 115 walls are analysed together, regardless of whether they fail in shear, flexure or a hybrid mode. In line with numerical findings, the size effects are absent for walls failing in shear subjected to low axial load ratios. For high axial load ratios, for which size effects were expected, the experimental data on walls failing in shear is insufficient. Additionally, only 20 walls failed in flexure, making the data for this failure type also inconclusive. The paper confirms the drift capacity models for hollow clay walls presented in the background document.