Comparative Analysis of Brick-to-Brick Modeling Techniques for Evaluating Compressive Behavior of Masonry

The preservation of historical heritage buildings frequently requires the assessment of brick masonry structures. These structures exhibit complex behaviour due to the arrangement of units and the interaction between bricks and mortar. This study aims to compare two modelling techniques for simulating masonry's compressive response and...

Vapour-open, non-capillary active internally insulated historic solid brick masonry: The influence of hygrothermal properties on the hygrothermal performance

Energy consumption has become a significant global issue due to climatic and environmental challenges, a lack of energy resources, and rising energy prices. The building stock accounts for 40% of the total energy consumption. Therefore, efforts should be made to explore possibilities to reduce energy consumption and related CO2-emissions, not...

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...

Critical analysis on the use of the shove test for investigating the shear-sliding behavior of brick masonry

The shove test (ASTM Standard C1531) is an experimental technique aimed at studying the shear-sliding behavior of brick masonry. It can be executed according to various testing methods that differ in the way the vertical compression load is applied and in the way bricks and/or joints are locally removed for inserting jacks. One of the most...

Material characterisation of existing masonry: A strategy to determine strength, stiffness and toughness properties for structural analysis

Understanding the behaviour of unreinforced masonry (URM) structures requires in-depth insight into the mechanical properties of its constituents and their interaction under compression, tension, and shear loading. As a result, a complete picture of masonry characteristics, accounting for its full nonlinear response and its statistical...

Mechanical modelling of the axial behaviour of traditional masonry wall metal tie connections in cavity walls

The seismic assessment of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings with cavity walls is a relevant issue in many countries, such as in Central and Northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China and several other countries. A cavity wall consists of two separate parallel masonry walls (called leaves) connected by metal ties: an inner loadbearing wall...

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...

Large Scale Experimental Settlement Tests to Evaluate Structural Models for Tunnelling-Induced Damage Analysis

Underground construction activities, such as tunnelling, cause local ground movements to occur. Nearby surface structures interact with the moving ground, potentially leading to building damage. Although it is understood that the severity of building damage is influenced by the façade opening ratio (OpR) and the stiffness of the floors,...

In-plane drift capacity at near collapse of rocking unreinforced calcium silicate and clay masonry piers

In recent years, seismic assessment of existing unreinforced masonry (URM) structures is being increasingly based on nonlinear methods. The in-plane displacement capacity represents one of the most crucial yet still debated features of the nonlinear behaviour of URM piers. International codes often employ empirical models to estimate the pier...

Influence of the behaviour of calcium silicate brick and element masonry on the lateral capacity of structures

In recent years induced seismicity in the Netherlands considerably increased. This phenomenon has a wide impact on the built environment, which is mainly composed by unreinforced masonry (URM) structures. These buildings were not designed for seismic loading, and present peculiar characteristics include very slender walls (100 mm thickness and 2...

Building response to tunnelling- and excavation-induced ground movements: using transfer functions to review the limiting tensile strain method

In this paper, limiting tensile strain method (LTSM) is reviewed, and advantages and disadvantages resulted from the simplicity of this method are examined in the light of the findings of the existing experimental and numerical studies. Using the viewpoint of the transfer functions for the LTSM, a more independent sight for the interpretation of...

Material tests for the characterisation of replicated solid clay brick masonry

Structural jacketing of brick masonry columns: A comparison among different solutions