Experimental Investigation of Masonry and Reinforced Masonry Walls Under Local Loading

Abstract

In modern construction, the brick is quite widely used as a material for wall structures. The masonry buildings are durable and have beautiful architectural forms and high heat transfer resistance. The practice of masonry buildings construction dates has several thousand years, and some of the architectural monuments have survived to these days. But construction experience shows that the thickness of the walls in these buildings is considerable—sometimes up to 1 m. Such material overruns are unjustified. One of the reserves for reducing material consumption, energy consumption, labor costs, and cost of the above elements is to improve the methods of their calculation and construction. The results of experimental investigations of masonry and reinforced masonry walls under one-sided central and edge loading are presented. According to the experimental data, the strength of masonry and reinforced masonry structures under local loading is influenced by: case (place) of loading application; geometric sizes of elements and loading platforms; strength characteristics of masonry; the number and nature of the reinforcement fabrics.