EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES TO THE COMPRESSIVE RESPONSE OF SOLID CLAY BRICK MASONRY

The solid clay brickwork of a 150 years-old bridge is studied through a compressive test on cylinders (φ = 150 mm) proposed by UIC (Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer) and flat jacks. FEM analyses, showing the stress distribution inside the specimen, explain the activation, inside the cylinder, of a sand-glass shaped core bearing the applied load, which makes the collapse mechanism of the UIC test partially different from the observed mechanisms for solid clay brickwork. The test results are compared to classical approaches and to other experimental data showing that the proposed test underestimates the compressive strength of masonry. Besides, the evaluation of the elastic average properties is found to be still an open issue.