Chapter 1 - Introduction
investigate the properties of the materials, some tests are carried out, using standard and not standard methods. The most investigated of them is the punching test on mortar joints. The standard and non-standard tests performed on masonry are analyzed in order to obtain elastic parameters, compressive and tensile strengths. The results are compared with analytical and standard formulas. Finally, the test on masonry cylinder is modelled to verify the validity of the proposed experimental techniques. The purpose is to assess the correspondence between the obtained materials’ parameters and the behaviour of the masonry subjected to uniaxial compression. The models are modelled using a pre-post processor called GID and a finite element software called COMET (Cervera et al., 2002), both developed at the International centre of Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE, Barcelona, Spain). The research is organized on the basis of followings steps: -
To gather information on the existing masonry about the behaviour of units and mortar masonry.
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To determine the parameters and the strength of masonry using different approaches.
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To compare the results obtained with analytical and standard formulas.
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To assess and validate the reliability of the experimental technique by comparing the results with the experimental tests, the standard tests and the subsequent numerical model.
1.3 Outline of the Thesis The present thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter deals with the objectives and focus of the thesis. The second chapter deals with the state of the art, where an introduction is given on masonry, brick and mortar, along with the behaviour of masonry in compression and different test approaches. The third chapter deals with the experimental campaign, along with the research results on bricks, mortar, masonry wallets, masonry prisms, three-joint masonry cylinders and two-joint masonry cylinders. In chapter four, the results obtained in chapter 3 are analysed. A discussion of results is also proposed as well as a comparison between the results obtained experimentally and those calculated applying the relations suggested by the standards.
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