M.J. Masia¹, R.B. Petersen², Y. Han³ and M.R.S. Correa⁴

1. Senior Lecturer, Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability, School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia, Mark.Masia@newcastle.edu.au
2. Postgraduate Student, Centre for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability, School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia, Robert.Petersen@studentmail.newcastle.edu.au
3. Civil Engineer, Hunter Water Australia Pty Ltd, Broadmeadow, NSW 2282, Australia, yan.han@hwa.com.au
4. Associate Professor, Department of Structural Engineering, EESC/USP, Brazil, mcorrea@sc.usp.br

ABSTRACT

The paper describes an experimental testing procedure for characterising the shear behaviour of mortar joints under combined shear and compression loading. The test apparatus subjects a single joint specimen of annular circular cross section to normal compressive force combined with torsion. The choice of annular cross section results in approximately uniform distributions of normal and shear stresses across the mortar joint, allowing shear behaviour at a material point to be characterised. The paper describes the test methodology and results from five series of tests conducted using the apparatus. The paper also elaborates on the difficult issue of specimen preparation.

KEYWORDS: masonry, mortar joint, shear behaviour, test method

B7-2