Experimental investigation into the effect of vertical loading on in-plane cyclic behavior of adobe walls

•Adobe walls are tested under a combination of axial and lateral cyclic loading.•The experimental parameters involve axial load and height to width ratio.•The results are compared in terms of different structural parameters. Adobe buildings are highly susceptible to lateral loads, which is responsible for their collapse during earthquakes in the past resulting in vast damages and immense human casualties. Nonetheless, a majority of such buildings in the seismic-prone regions worldwide, including those in the Iranian plateau, are in every-day use. Thus, close examination of their behavior under lateral loading is vital for developing appropriate retrofit techniques aimed at preventing their severe damage and the associated casualties during strong ground motions. Towards this, the present experimental investigation was designed and implemented to study the in-plane lateral behavior of adobe walls under different axial pre-compression loads. The experimental program consisted of 12 adobe wall panels, all 1000 mm long and 200 mm thick but of three different heights of 800, 900, and 1000 mm. Loading was applied in the form of an incremental lateral loading regime in the presence of four vertical pre-compression stresses of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 MPa. The aim was to investigate the effects of vertical loading and wall height on the in-plane lateral responses of adobe walls. The results were compared in terms of hysteretic load-displacement response, lateral resistance, displacement capacity, ductility, stiffness degradation, and energy absorption. Another aspect of the study involves a detailed examination of the failure modes and general behavior of the specimens.