Abstract
This paper deals with correlations among mechanical properties of hollow blocks and those of concrete used to make them. Concrete hollow blocks and test samples were moulded with plastic consistency concrete, to assure the same material in all cases, in three diferente levels of strength (nominally 10 N/mm², 20 N/mm² and 30 N/mm²). The mechanical properties and structural behaviour in axial compression and tension tests were determined by standard tests in blocks and cylinders. Stress and strain analyses were made based on concrete’s modulus of elasticity obtained in the sample tests as well as on measured strain in the blocks’ face-shells and webs. A peculiar stress-strain analysis, based on the superposition of effects, provided an estimation of the block load capacity based on its deformations. In addition, a tentative method to preview the block deformability from the concrete mechanical properties is described and tested. This analysis is a part of a broader research that aims to support a detailed structural analysis of blocks, prisms and masonry constructions.
Highlights
Despite of the scientific evolution of structural masonry technology in recent years, the design methods and structural safety analyses still need hard improvements
The mechanical properties and structural behaviour in axial compression and tension tests were determined by standard tests in blocks and cylinders
This paper reports a tentative analysis to correlate the mechanical behavior of cylindrical concrete samples to the structural behavior of hollow concrete blocks
Summary
Despite of the scientific evolution of structural masonry technology in recent years, the design methods and structural safety analyses still need hard improvements. Marzahn [6] relates that it is necessary a much accurate analysis of masonry structural behaviour especially because the mechanical properties (as found by the standard test method) are not adequate to represent the condition in a numerical micromodelling for masonry computational simulation or failure conditions. In accordance to Pina-Henriques [7], in a numerical micromodelling it is meaningful to have a closer evaluation of mechanical properties of masonry constituent materials, e.g., concrete and bedding mortar Many researchers followed this reasoning, like Hamid and Chukwunenye [8] that performed numerical simulations on prisms in which the block modulus of elasticity was obtained by tests in samples extracted from the concrete blocks tested by Becica and Harris [9]. It is necessary to define a sample that represent the behaviour of the block under axial compression
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