(**c**) W4 and W5

**Figure 5.** Size of the specimens: (**a**) W1 and W2; (**b**) W3; (**c**) W4 and W5.

The dimensions and the steel arrangemen<sup>t</sup> of the specimens should be meeting the specifications as outlined in GB/T 41112013. The section size of the structural column, ring beam, and bottom beam were 240 mm × 120 mm, 240 mm × 200 mm (or 240 mm × 150 mm) and 300 mm × 350 mm, respectively. Ordinary Portland concrete with 28 d axial strength of 42.5 MPa was used in the bottom beams during the test. The reinforcement arrangemen<sup>t</sup> is shown in Figure 5.

#### *2.3. Test Procedure*

The loading procedure included two steps: a load-controlled step and a drift-controlled step, which can be observed in Figure 6. First, the specimens were subjected to a vertical pre-compression load, which was kept constant during each test (Figure 2). After 20 min, 20 kN lateral loads were applied to the specimens in advance and repeated three times. Before formal loading, the experiment instruments were checked to see if they work properly, and then the experiment was conducted. During the load-controlled stage, the force control loading was adopted in the experiment. During this time, the horizontal load was applied cyclically with an increment of 40 kN until the walls cracked. After the walls initially cracked, the application method was changed to the drift control step. Then, the displacement levels of the cracked point were regarded as the first displacement step and set as the increment for the subsequent displacement cycles. Cyclic loading was applied twice at each displacement magnitude until wall failure. Subsequently, the tests were terminated when the lateral load of specimens decreased to about 85% of its peak value, or the number of specimen cracks reached about 50% of the total number of masonry mortar joints.

#### *2.4. Test Device and Measuring Arrangement*

The test device and the measuring instrument of deformation are presented in Figure 7. The layout of the measuring instruments and data collections were introduced as follows: (1) A horizontal linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) was placed in the middle of the ring beam to measure the horizontal displacement of the wall; (2) force sensors continuously recorded the values of vertical load and horizontal load applied by the vertical jack and the horizontal actuator; (3) the status of cracks was observed by the naked eye during experiments during the test. The occurrence, development, width of cracks, and maximum crack width were continually recorded at every loading process, and a marking pen described the shape of the cracks. The number and the values of cycles were also recorded; (4) two vertical LVDTs were placed on both sides of the bottom beam respectively to measure

vertical displacement. A horizontal LVDT was arranged at one side of the bottom beams to measure horizontal displacement.

**Figure 7.** Schematic representation of the test setup.
