Soudais, Pierre René Norbert1; Parsekian, Guilherme Aris2; Shrive, Nigel Graham3; Liu, Zhaoju Rick4 and Kaheh, Pedram5
1 PhD Candidate, Federal University of São Carlos, Department of Civil Engineering, São Carlos, SP, Brazil, pierre.engenharia@gmail.com
2 PhD and Associate Professor, Federal University of São Carlos, Department of Civil Engineering, São Carlos, SP, Brazil, parsekian@ufscar.br
3 PhD and Full Professor, University of Calgary, Department of Civil Engineering, Calgary, AB, Canada, ngshrive@ucalgary.ca
4 Undergraduate Student, University of Calgary, Department of Civil Engineering, Calgary, AB, Canada, Rickl57@hotmail.com
5 PhD Candidate, University of Calgary, Department of Civil Engineering, Calgary, AB, Canada, pkaheh@ucalgary.ca
ABSTRACT
Compressive strength is perhaps the most important property of masonry. Due to the weak bond between masonry units and mortar, structural masonry walls have low tensile and shear strength. Hence, the design of masonry structures is effective for situations where compression is the limiting case. Hollow masonry walls are usually strengthened with grout, whether or not they are also reinforced. Grouting is relatively easy to do during construction but it is difficult to implement for repair of masonry, because of having to drill into the wall to access the hollow cores. In several parts of the world, numerous masonry buildings require repair due to inappropriate design or execution work and uncertainty in the quality of the material used. In many of these cases increasing compressive strength of the masonry is an issue. An overview of the main existing techniques to increase masonry compressive strength is presented. The initial phase of an experimental program on hollow concrete block walls strengthened by rendering with Eco-Friendly Ductile Cementitious Composites (EDCC) is also presented, including 16 compression tests of three course prisms.
KEYWORDS: compressive strength, repair, structural masonry, strengthening
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