The use of unreinforced masonry spatial structures, in particular arches and vaults, represents a typical solution in historical buildings. The Italian architectural heritage is heavily characterized by the use of thesekind of structures, which are particularly sensitive to seismic action. In recent years, the use of in-scale models to investigate the structural behaviour of vaults has largely increased in scientific research. Actually, physical models allow examining the complex three-dimensional failure mechanism derived by pseudo-static response of the structures due to large displacement of the supports, simulating seismic behaviour of the building components. The experimental campaign carried out in this thesis is based on the investigation on 1:5 in-scale models of round arches and barrel vaults with mortar joints, to investigate their different structural behaviour under settlement of the abutments derived from two different brick patterns: radial arrangement, with bed joints orthogonal to the head arch plane, and vertical arrangement, with bed joints parallel to the head arch plane.