FARID BRAHIM, HOUTI1; FOUAD, GHOMARI2

1) Associate teacher, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Tlemcen, Algeria, fb@yahoo.fr.

2) Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Tlemcen, Algeria, ghomarifouad@yahoo.fr.

Load bearing masonry had been used prior to the advent of concrete. However, nowadays, it is completely marginalized though masonry constructions allow the realization of low cost housing. The present work enters in this framework, and allows us to understand the behavior of different low walls made of: hollow clay bricks and concrete blocks, under uniaxial compression loading.

Thus, it is an experimental study where two kinds of jointing mortars have been used: cement mortar and mixed (bastard) mortar (a mixture of cement and lime). Furthermore, the joint thickness varies between 5 and 15 mm and its orientation compared to the axis of the loading from 0° to 90°. The objective of this work is to show the influence of all these parameters on the behavior, in simple compression, of tested walls in masonry.

Keywords: Compression, Experimentation, Masonry, Rupture, Wall