Description

This is the fourth BRANZ investigation of a series looking into the seismic performance of brick veneer. The first two investigations were slow cyclic tests of full-scale veneer specimens where the veneer clad a rectangular room, which had both window and door openings. The third investigation was a shake table test of a clay brick veneer clad room, with an inertial mass to simulate roof loads.

The quality of brick veneer construction has improved markedly in recent years, with requirements for the ties to be screw-fixed to the timber framing and with the advent of lighter bricks with vertical penetrations. It is considered that the veneer may no longer be just a driver, but rather that it may have some lateral load-resisting capability.

The complete study is intended to improve the understanding of brick veneer construction in earthquakes, in particular:

• to determine if brick veneer can be relied upon to carry most of the building seismic load or whether the building light timber framing construction should be designed to carry the entire load
• to identify the level of seismic damage that can be expected in modern brick veneer construction.