Dynamic Fracture Toughness of Sandstone Masonry Beams Bound with Fiber-Reinforced Mortars
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 26, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper reports the fracture parameters of bond in stone masonry beams bound with plain and fiber-reinforced mortar. Sandstone blocks were joined together with a modern Type S mortar conforming to the Canadian standard. A companion series was examined employing a hydraulic lime mortar, typically used in the restoration of historical masonry. Based on a previous study, polypropylene microfibers were incorporated at up to 0.50% by volume to achieve superior crack growth resistance. This study evaluated the critical stress intensity factor, the critical effective crack length, and the critical crack mouth opening displacements. The masonry beams were subjected to quasi-static flexure as per ASTM and dynamic bending through a drop weight impact machine that generated stress rates up to . The study reveals that there is an improvement in the bond strength due to fibers but a difference in the fracture performance between the Type S and hydraulic lime mortars. Whereas with Type S mortar, fibers promote failure through fracture in the stone block especially under dynamic loading, in the hydraulic lime mortar fiber reinforcement moves the failure plane from the interface to within the bulk mortar.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded in part by the Network of Centres of Excellence on Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures (ISIS-Canada) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada. The authors thank the Masonry Contractors Association of Alberta (Northern Region) and Scorpio Masonry Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, for the supply of materials and technician time. As well, the authors thank Dr. Nemkumar Banthia at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, for making possible their use of the drop-weight impact tester. The assistance of Public Works and Government Services, Canada is also gratefully acknowledged.
References
American Concrete Institute (ACI). (1996). “Report on fibre reinforced concrete.” 544.R1, Farmington Hills, MI.
Alhozaimy, A. M., Soroushian, P., and Mirza, F. (1996). “Mechanical properties of polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete and the effects of pozzolanic materials.” Cement Concr. Compos., 18(2), 85–92.
Armelin, H. S., and Banthia, N. (1997). “Predicting the flexural postcracking performance of steel fiber reinforced concrete from the pullout of single fibers.” ACI Mater. J., 94(1), 18–31.
Armwood, C., Sorensen, A., Skourup, B., and Erdogmus, E. (2008). “Fibre reinforced mortar mixtures for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of existing masonry structures.” Proc. AEI 2008–Building Integrated Solutions, ASCE, Denver, CO, 24–26.
ASTM. (2007a). “Standard test method for flow of hydraulic cement mortar.” C-1437, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2007b). “Standard test method for flexural performance of fiber-reinforced concrete (using beam with third-point loading).” C1609-07, West Conshohocken, PA.
Banthia, N., and Dubeau, S. (1994). “Carbon and steel microfiber-reinforced cement-based composites for thin repairs.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 88–99.
Banthia, N. P., Mindess, S., Bentur, A., and Pigeon, M. (1989). “Impact testing of concrete using a dropweight impact machine.” Exp. Mech., 29(1), 63–69.
Bentur, A., and Alexander, M. G. (2000). “A review of the work the RILEM TC 159-ETC: Engineering of the interfacial transition zone in cementitious composites.” Mater. Struct., 33(2), 82–87.
Bharatkumar, B. H., and Shah, S. P. (2004). “Impact resistance of hybrid fiber reinforced mortar.” Int. RILEM Symp. Concr. Sci. Eng., RILEM Publications SARL, Bagneux, France.
Bindiganavile, V., and Banthia, N. (2001). “Polymer and steel fiber reinforced cementitious composites under impact loading. I: Bond-slip response.” ACI Mater. J., 98(1), 10–16.
British Standards. (2002). “Building limes. I: Definitions, specification and conformity criteria.”, London U.K.
Canadian Standards Association (CSA). (2004). “Mortar and grout for unit masonry.”, Ontario.
Chan, R., and Bindiganavile, V. (2010). “Toughness of fibre reinforced hydraulic lime mortar. II: Dynamic response.” Mater. Struct., 43(10), 1445–1455.
Chen, E. P., and Sih, G. C. (1977). “Transient response of cracks to impact loads.” Mechanics of Fracture 4: Elastodynamic crack problems, G. C. Sih, ed. Noordhoff, Leyden, 1–58.
Costigan, A., and Pavia, S. (2009). “Compressive, flexural and bond strength of brick/lime mortar masonry.” Proc. PROHITEC-09, 1, Taylor and Francis Group, London, 1609–1615.
Davis, J. R. (2004). Tensile testing, 2nd Ed., ASM International, Materials Park, OH.
Drdacky, M. (2010). “Non-standard testing in characterization and consolidation assessment of historic mortars.” RILEM Proc. No.78, 2nd historic mortars conf. and TC 203 final workshop, RILEM Publications SARL, Bagneux, France, 467–474.
Glinicki, M. A. (1994). “Toughness of fibre reinforced mortar at high tensile loading rates.” ACI Mater. J., 91(2), 161–166.
Gumeste, K. S., and Venkatarama, R. B. V. (2007). “Strength and elasticity of brick masonry prisms and wallettes under compression.” Mater. Struct., 40(2), 241–253.
Hibbert, A. P., and Hannant, D. J., (1981). “Impact response of fibre concrete.”, U.K. Transport and Road Research Laboratory, Crowthorne, U.K.
Islam, M. T. (2010). “Static and dynamic response of sandstone masonry units bound with fibre reinforced mortars.” M.S. thesis, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB.
Lanas, J., Perez, B. J. L., Bellob, M. A., and Alvarez, G. J. I. (2004). “Mechanical properties of natural hydraulic lime based mortars.” Cement Concr. Res., 34(12), 2191–2201.
Maurenbrecher, A. H. P., Trischuk, K., and Rousseau, M. Z. (2001). “Review of factors affecting the durability of repointing mortars for older masonry.” 9th Canadian Masonry Symp., National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON, 1–12.
Mindess, S., and Vondran, G. (1988). “Properties of concrete reinforced with fibrillated polypropylene fibres under impact loading.” Cement Concr. Res., 18(1), 109–115.
Radjy, F., and Hansen, T. C. (1973). “Fracture of hardened cement paste and concrete.” Cement Concr. Res., 3(4), 343–361.
Rao, K. V., Reddy, B. V. V., and Jagadish, K. S. (1996). “Flexural bond strength of masonry using various blocks and mortars.” Mater. Struct., 29(2), 119–124.
Sarangapani, G., Venkatarama, R. B. V., and Jagadish, K. S. (2005). “Brick–mortar bond and masonry compressive strength.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 229–237.
Venkatarama, R. B. V., and Vyas, U. (2008). “Influence of shear bond strength on the compressive strength and stress-strain characteristics of masonry.” Mater. Struct., 41(10), 1697–1712.
Zellers, R. C. (1999). “High volume applications of collated fibrellated polypropylene fiber.” Fibre reinforced cement and concretes, R. N. Swamy and B. Barr, eds., Elsevier Science Publishers Limited, Essex, England, 316.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 22, 2012
Accepted: Oct 1, 2012
Published online: Oct 4, 2012
Discussion open until: Mar 4, 2013
Published in print: Jan 1, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.