Abstract
An experimental campaign involving the compressive testing of a brick masonry pillar extracted from a historical building is presented in this paper. The test procedure and the instrumentation are designed in order to determine, in addition to the compressive strength and global Young’s modulus of the structure, the behavior in different parts of the pillar. Material samples, representative of the external leaf and the infill, are extracted from the pillar and tested in compression. Differences in strength and elasticity of the two components are critically presented and their influence on the maximum load and failure mode of the pillar are discussed. Finally, a simple analytical model is employed in order to quantify the effect of the mismatch of Young’s modulus of the two components of the pillar. Analogies between the studied pillar and three-leaf wall masonry are drawn.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- F max :
-
Maximum force
- f cc :
-
Compressive strength of couplet
- f ci :
-
Compressive strength of infill
- f co :
-
Compressive strength of outer leaf
- f c :
-
Compressive strength
- E c :
-
Young’s modulus of couplet
- E i :
-
Young’s modulus of infill
- E :
-
Young’s modulus
- ν i :
-
Poisson’s ratio of infill
- V o :
-
Volume of outer leaf
- V i :
-
Volume of infill
- V w :
-
Volume of pillar/wall
- θ i :
-
Increase factor due to infill confinement
- θ o :
-
Reduction factor due to infill expansion
- σ :
-
Stress
- ε :
-
Strain
- ε c/3 :
-
Limit of proportionality strain
- ε c :
-
Peak strain
- ε u :
-
Ultimate strain
References
Aiello MA, Micelli F, Valente L (2007) Structural upgrading of masonry columns by using composite reinforcements. J Compos Constr 11:650–658
Aiello MA, Micelli F, Valente L (2009) FRP confinement of square masonry columns. J Compos Constr 13:148–158
Aprile A, Benedetti A, Grassucci F (2001) Assessment of cracking and collapse for old brick masonry columns. J Struct Eng 127:1427–1435
Valluzzi MR, Da Porto F, Modena C (2004) Behavior and modeling of strengthened three-leaf stone masonry walls. Mater Struct 37:184–192
Vintzileou EN, Miltiadou-Fezans A (2008) Mechanical properties of three-leaf stone masonry grouted with ternary or hydraulic lime-based grouts. Eng Struct 30:2265–2276
Almeida C, Guedes JP, Arêde A, Costa CQ, Costa A (2012) Physical characterization and compression tests of one leaf stone masonry walls. Constr Build Mater 30:188–197
Egermann R, Neuwald-Burg C (1994) Assessment of the load bearing capacity of historic multiple leaf masonry walls. In: Proceedings of the 10th international brick block masonary conference, pp 1603–1612
Vintzileou EN (2011) Three-leaf masonry in compression, before and after grouting: a review of literature. Int J Archit Herit 5:513–538
ASTM. ASTM C42/C42M-13 (2013) Standard test method for obtaining and testing drilled cores and sawed beams of concrete. ASTM International
Feenstra PH, De Borst R (1996) A composite plasticity model for concrete. Int J Solids Struct 33:707–730
Acknowledgments
This research has received financial support from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, through the research project MICROPAR (Identification of mechanical and strength parameters of structural masonry by experimental methods and numerical micro-modeling, Ref num. BIA2012-32234) and the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Drougkas, A., Roca, P., Molins, C. et al. Compressive testing of an early 20th century brick masonry pillar. Mater Struct 49, 2367–2381 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-015-0654-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-015-0654-y