In-situ test for the shear strength evaluation of masonry: the case of a building hit by L’Aquila earthquake (Italy)

The assessment of historical masonry mechanical parameters, in particular of the shear strength, is one of the most critical issues related to historical buildings preservation and safety evaluation in seismic area: this is due to the difficulty in performing reliable tests without making an excessive impact on the structure. Many doubts related to L’Aquila masonry quality, arisen during post-earthquake rehabilitation and reconstruction, might be solved by destructive in-situ tests. To this aim, a masonry building severely damaged by the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake was chosen as able to execute an in-situ shear tests. The building has been selected by considering different aspects, like as: safety of worker; accessibility; representativeness of masonry for typical historical buildings in the Abruzzo region. This paper focuses on the procedures to carry out the experimental campaign, the analysis of results and their comparison with reference ranges proposed in the Italian Code for Structural Design.