The tensile test behavior of two different structural patterns hexagonal wire mesh samples subjected to lateral unconstrained and constrained conditions were investigated. The structural patterns included three halfturn and four half-turn hexagonal wire mesh panels with and without one center cut wire in each mesh panel. The study results indicated that the ultimate tensile strength for three half-turn and four half-turn hexagonal wire mesh panels without a cut wire were similar. However, the four half-turn hexagonal wire panels showed better tensile resistance after one wire broke at the panel center. This implied that the presence of broken wires within the four half-turn hexagonal wire mesh panel showed no significant influence on the panel’s tensile strength resistance. Lateral constrained wire meshes showed better tensile resistance than unconstrained samples. Due to the lateral constraint the initial slope and the first peak shown in the elongation versus tensile stress curves for the lateral constrained conditions were higher than those for the no lateral constrained condition. The presence of lateral constraint would assist in the development of a vertical or a diagonal center hole for Type A or Type B wire mesh panels with or without a center cut during the tensile tests, respectively. Generally, four half-turn hexagonal wire mesh is a better structural pattern than that the three half-turn hexagonal wire mesh in the tensile tests. A uniform lateral force distribution was observed for the four half-turn (Type B) wire mesh. A bell shaped non-uniform lateral force distribution was observed for the three half-turn (Type A) wire mesh, and the center region lateral force was higher than that for the other sides. The total lateral forces for all test constrained conditions were about the same.
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