Author
K.C. VOON and J.M. INGHAM University of Auckland

Abstract
The current New Zealand masonry design standard, NZS 4230, has not been updated since 1990 and it is suggested that the shear strength criteria in this document are overly conservative, restricting cost-effective masonry design. Consequently, an experimental study was undertaken at the University of Auckland to investigate the shear strength of concrete masonry walls subjected to in-plane cyclic loading. The experimental walls exhibited a significant shear strength margin in excess of the NZS 4230 maximum allowable shear stress. The study therefore concluded that the New Zealand masonry design standard is conservative in accounting for masonry shear strength. In addition, this study concluded that the shear equation presented by NEHPR has the ability to predict masonry shear strength with good accuracy.