Compressive behaviour of fired-clay brick and lime mortar masonry components in dry and wet conditions
File(s)
Author(s)
Bompa, DV
Elghazouli, AY
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This paper examines the fundamental mechanical properties of masonry elements incorporating fired-clay bricks and hydraulic lime mortars under ambient-dry and wet conditions, corresponding to 48 h submersion in water. In addition to complementary material characterisation assessments, two types of specimens are tested: cylindrical cores in compression, and wall elements in compression. Overall, a detailed account of more than 50 tests is given. Apart from conventional measurements, the use of digital image correlation techniques enables a detailed assessment of the influence of moisture on the constitutive response, confinement effects and mechanical properties of masonry components. The uniaxial compressive strengths of wet brick elements and brick–mortar components, resulting from tests on cylindrical cores with height-to-depth ratios of around two, are shown to be 13–18% lower than those in ambient-dry conditions. The tests also show that enhanced confinement levels in brick units mobilise 67–92% higher strengths than in the corresponding unconfined cylinders. Moreover, experimental observations indicate that the presence of significant confinement reduces the influence of moisture on the mechanical properties as a function of the brick and mortar joint thickness and their relative stiffness. As a result, the failure of wet masonry walls in compression is found to be only marginally lower than those in ambient-dry conditions. Based on the test results, the influence of moisture on the constitutive response and mechanical properties of masonry components is discussed, and considerations for practical application are highlighted.
Date Issued
2020-06
Date Acceptance
2020-05-12
Citation
Materials and Structures, 2020, 53 (3), pp.1-21
ISSN
1359-5997
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Start Page
1
End Page
21
Journal / Book Title
Materials and Structures
Volume
53
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Identifier
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1617%2Fs11527-020-01493-w#ethics
Subjects
0905 Civil Engineering
Building & Construction
Publication Status
Published online
Article Number
60
Date Publish Online
2020-05-26