The numerical shear behavior of a masonry panel under diagonal compression test with different experimental setups

The diagonal compression test is a standardized destructive test with the aim of the determination of the diagonal tensile strength (or shear strength) and the shear modulus of masonry panels, by loading them in compression along one of their diagonals, causing in such way a diagonal tension failure, with the consequent splitting of the specimens in a direction parallel to the direction of the load. The test can be performed as an in-situ test (providing specifics additional rules for the execution) or in a laboratory condition, but, in this master thesis, we used numerical analysis by Diana FEA software. Studying the following configurations:  Homogenous panel, related to in lab setup.  Homogenous panel, related to in site setup. Two homogenous panels were initially tested through a numerical diagonal compression test by two numerical method ( Secant ( Quasi-Newton ) , Newton-Raphson ) and we crossed the best method to discussing the results. The panel dimensions were 100*100*25 cm2 for two testing.