Failure mechanism of compressed reinforced and non-reinforced stone columns

Abstract

The article deals with the issues of the strengthening and stabilisation of stone masonry columns reinforced by fabrics based on inorganic fibres under concentric compression. These structures represent a frequent design solution of load-bearing structures of historic buildings. High-strength carbon fibres fabric placed along the perimeter of a masonry column—in thirds of the column height—prevents the undesirable redistribution of compressive normal stresses along the compressed element’s cross section in the phase of crack propagation and crack development. In this phase, despite growing horizontal and vertical deformations (mainly in the central part), a masonry element is able to transfer the growing compressive load. In this case, a gradual exhaustion of the ultimate strength of the individual masonry components occurs as a consequence of wrapping in a composite based on high-strength fibres. The experimental research of the failure mechanism of stone columns made of coursed masonry of regular sandstone blocks and coursed masonry of irregular (freestone) blocks under concentric compression and the research of the performance of non-reinforced as well as CFRP-reinforced stone columns completed to-date reveals the necessity of a different approach to the assessment of the load-bearing capacity, or residual load-bearing capacity, of masonry composed of stone blocks.