Experimental characterisation of flexural bond behaviour in brick masonry

The brick-to-mortar bond often represents the weakest link leading to cracking and failure of masonry structures. For this reason, the in-situ characterization of masonry’s flexural bond behaviour (here defined as flexural bond strength and flexural bond fracture energy), is essential for the assessment of existing buildings. Among masonry...

A strategy for material characterisation of multi-wythe masonry Infrastructure: Preliminary study

The present work aims at providing insights on the material characterization of multi-wythe masonry infrastructure, in particular exploring a through-thickness effect of mechanical properties and benchmarking the core testing as an efficient slightly-destructive testing method. An experimental campaign was carried out to characterize shear,...

Mechanical Characterisation of Multi-Wythe Masonry Bridge in the City of Amsterdam

This paper presents the results of an experimental campaign carried out to characterise the mechanical properties of multi-wythe masonry infrastructure in the city of Amsterdam. Samples were extracted from a 1.2 m thick bridge’s pillar constructed in 1882. For the characterisation of shear and compressive properties of masonry, tests on cores...

In-plane response of slender walls made of calcium silicate brick and element masonry

Due to the increase of induced seismic activities in the Groningen area (north part of the Netherlands), the assessment of low-rise residential buildings with slender façade piers became of relevance. In this framework, the in-plane response of slender walls made of calcium silicate (CS) brick and element masonry is investigated in this paper...

Core testing method to assess nonlinear shear-sliding behaviour of brick-mortar interfaces: A comparative experimental study

In this study, tests on cores and companion tests on triplets are compared with respect to the evaluation of the nonlinear shear-sliding behaviour of masonry, including the determination of post-peak softening response. Due to its slightly-destructive sampling nature and its good agreement with triplet results, the core testing method is...

Experimental investigation of the in-plane cyclic behaviour of calcium silicate brick masonry walls

The material and structural performance of calcium silicate (CS) brick masonry has received relatively little attention in the past, although this material is often used for the construction of low-rise buildings in Central and Northern Europe. Upon the occurrence of induced seismicity in the north of the Netherlands, an extensive testing...

Large-scale testing program for the seismic characterization of Dutch masonry walls.

The evaluation of the seismic response of unreinforced masonry buildings is a popular topic all over the world. In recent years, also the Netherlands started to face seismic risk, since the induced seismicity in the north of the country considerably increased (the gas extraction started in 1963, and earthquakes have occurred since the early ‘90s...

Structural behaviour of a calcium silicate element masonry assemblage: Quasi-static cyclic pushover test

Structural behaviour of a calcium silicate brick masonry assemblage: Quasi-static cyclic pushover and dynamic identification test (C31B60-7)