Castle walls in Japan are a typical example of masonry structures. There are also masonry structures along railways and roads. Stone was a main material of civil engineering structures, when railways were constructed for the first time in Japan. On the other hand, constructions to improve the performance for earthquake of civil engineering structures have advanced since the Hyogoken-Nanbu-Earthquake. However, it is impossible for us to evaluate the masonry wall stability at the moment, because actual conditions. of masonry wall within masonry structures have not been clarified. Then, model tests using a shaking table were carried out in order to clarify the deformation process of the masonry wall at earthquakes. This paper deals with an outline of shaking table tests and deformation and collapse mechanisms of masonry wall that were clarified by tests.

Copyright (c) 2003 Railway Technical Research Institute