Author

W. TEMPLETON and G. J. EDGELL British Ceramic Research Limited
and
R. C. DE VEKEY Building Research Establishment
Abstract

A uniformly distributed lateral load was applied to the gable wall of the test house in increments of 0.25 kN/m2 up to 3 kN/m2. The structure appeared to behave elastically up to 1.25 kN/m2 loading, with the first serious cracking occurring between 1.25 and 1.50 kN/m1. At 3 kN/m2 the gable wall was stilt taking load, although there was very serious cracking at both the internal and external leaves of the gable and front and rear walls. There was sufficient interaction between floor, roof, front and rear walls for the gable wall to be adequately supported and for the whole house to act compositely and to sustain a high load.