Ting Hin Chui and Lisa R. Feldman
Ting Hin Chui, M.Sc. Student, Department of Civil, Geological, and Environmental Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, tic245@mail.usask.ca
Lisa R. Feldman, Professor & Director of the Saskatchewan Centre for Masonry Design, Department of Civil, Geological, and Environmental Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, lisa.feldman@usask.ca
ABSTRACT
Requirements for the geometry, construction, loading, and testing of masonry prisms differ based upon whether U.S. or Canadian standards are followed. Prisms constructed in accordance with CSA S304-14 (R2019) include face shell bedding, are commonly constructed in running bond, and are one block wide and 3 courses tall. In contrast, prisms built in accordance with U.S. standard ASTM C1314-18 include full mortar bedding, a baseline height-to-thickness ratio of 2, and may be as little as one-half block wide. The resulting masonry assemblage strength is affected, and serves as input for the design of members subject to bending, axial loads, and shear. Such a difference is therefore intrinsic, and does not allow for a direct comparison between Canadian standard CSA S304-14 (R2019) – Design of Masonry Structures and U.S. code TMS 402/602-16 – Building Code Requirements and Specifications for Masonry. An evaluation is essential to reconcile design requirements for masonry as is underway by the Canada Masonry Design Centre and the National Concrete Masonry Association, as was initiated to establish synergies and allow for cost savings related to this construction material. An experimental investigation is therefore underway at the University of Saskatchewan to evaluate the resulting differences in masonry assemblage strength. This initial paper describes the motivation for this work and examines the influential parameters in the context of the available literature.
KEYWORDS: masonry assemblage strength, masonry prisms, mortar bedding, bond pattern, prism geometry, testing methods
