ALMEIDA, CELESTE1; GUEDES, JOÃO PAULO2; ARÊDE, ANTÓNIO3; COSTA, ANÃBAL4
1) Researcher , FEUP, Department of Civil Engineering , celeste.almeida@fe.up.pt
2) Assistant Professor, FEUP, Department of Civil Engineering, jguedes@fe.up.pt
3) Associate Professor, FEUP, Department of Civil Engineering, aarede@fe.up.pt
4) Full Professor, U. Aveiro, Department of Civil Engineering, acosta@civil.ua.pt
This paper contributes with new and valuable data about the compression behaviour of one-leaf granite stone masonry walls. These walls represent the main load bearing elements of most of the old buildings of the historic centre of Porto, Portugal, although they are also found in other parts of the country, in particular at the Northern region of the territory. The main geometrical, material and constructive characteristics of these walls have been assessed in previous studies. Based on this knowledge, full-scale specimens representative of this typology and with different regularity patterns were constructed. Twelve panels were then selected to follow an experimental programme of uniaxial compression tests. The results allowed quantifying the strength and deformability of the masonry and assessing the influence of the walls geometric regularity on the structural response. In particular, they show that although the strength is within the expected range of values for stone masonry, the stiffness, when compared to the strength, is much smaller than expected, especially when evaluated through code standard indications, or bibliography proposals. Finally, the results alert for the importance of the constructive process that plays a major role in the structural behaviour of these walls.
Keywords: One leaf stone masonry, Compression tests, Different regularity patterns.