Energy dissipation response of brick masonry under cyclic compressive loading

Scaled brick masonry panels were tested under cyclic unialxial compression loading to evaluate its deformation characteristics. An envelope stress - strain curves, a common point curves and stability point curves were obtained for various cyclic test conditions. Loops of the stress-strain hysteresis were used to determine the energy dissipation for each cycle. Empirical expressions were proposed for the relations between energy dissipation and envelope and residual strains. These relations indicated that the decay of masonry strength starts at about two-third of peak stress.