Assessing the Compressive Behavior of Dry-Stacked Concrete Masonry with Experimentally Informed Numerical Models
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 7
Abstract
In dry-stacked concrete masonry construction, units are laid without mortar, increasing the speed and reducing the cost of masonry installation. Despite these benefits, mortarless construction has not gained widespread acceptance as a viable alternative to traditional bonded masonry. This is largely attributed to the fact that the effect of surface roughness characteristics on the mechanical behavior of dry-stack masonry is not yet fully understood. To address this knowledge gap, the authors develop experimentally validated, predictive models that explicitly take the bed surface topography into account while representing the localized, nonlinear behavior at dry joints. With these validated models, a parametric analysis is completed to derive relationships between unit variables (e.g., material properties, surface roughness, and grout strength) and the performance of mortarless prisms under axial compressive loads. The derived relationships contribute to the knowledge base in terms of the behavior of dry-stacked masonry construction.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support of the National Concrete Masonry Association Education and Research Foundation for the funding of this project. They also wish to convey their appreciation to Seth Adams, Danny Metz, and Scott Black for their assistance in conducting the prism analysis and to Saurabh Prabhu, who provided insight and expertise.
References
Ainsworth, M. 2001. “Essential boundary conditions and multi-point constrains in finite element analysis.” Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Eng. 190 (48): 6323–6339. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045-7825(01)00236-5.
Anand, K., and K. Ramamurthy. 2000. “Development and performance evaluation of interlocking-block masonry.” J. Archit. Eng. 6 (2): 45–51. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1076-0431(2000)6:2(45).
Anand, K. B., and K. Ramamurthy. 2005. “Development and evaluation of hollow concrete interlocking block masonry system.” Masonry Soc. J. 23 (1): 11–19.
Andreev, K., S. Sinnema, A. Rekkik, S. Allaoui, E. Blond, and A. Gasser. 2012. “Compressive behavior of dry joints in refractory ceramic masonry.” Constr. Build. Mater. 34 (1): 402–408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2012.02.024.
ASTM. 2010. Standard test method for Young’s modulus, tangent modulus, and chord modulus. ASTM E111-04. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ASTM. 2011. Standard test method for compressive strength of masonry prism. ASTM C1314-11a. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ASTM. 2014. Standard test methods for sampling and testing concrete masonry units. ASTM C140/C140M-14. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ASTM. 2015. Standard test method for measuring pavement mmacrotexture depth using a volumetric technique. ASTM E965-15. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ASTM. 2016a. Standard practice for capping concrete masonry units, related units and masonry prisms for compression testing. ASTM C1552-16. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ASTM. 2016b. Standard specification for grout for masonry. ASTM C476-16. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
ASTM. 2016c. Standard test method for sampling and testing grout. ASTM C1019-16. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM.
Atamturktur, S. 2009. “Validation and verification under uncertainty applied to finite element models of historic masonry monuments.” In Proc., 27th Society of Experimental Mechanics (SEM) International Modal Analysis Conference (IMAC-XXVII). Bethel, CT: Society for Experimental Mechanics.
Atamturktur, S., B. E. Ross, J. Thompson, and D. Biggs. 2016. “Compressive strength of dry-stacked concrete masonry unit assemblies.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 29 (2): 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001693.
Baggio, C., and P. Trovaluski. 1993. “Discrete models for joined block masonry walls.” In Proc., 6th North American Masonry Conf., 939–949. Philadelphia: Drexel Univ.
Bathe, K. 1996. Finite element procedures. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Beall, C. 2000. “New masonry products and materials.” Prog. Struct. Eng. Mater. 2 (3): 296–303. https://doi.org/10.1002/1528-2716(200007/09)2:3%3C296::AID-PSE38%3E3.0.CO;2-6.
Bertsekas, D. 1996. Constrained optimization and Lagrange multiplier methods. Belmont, MA: Athena Scientific.
Campbell, J. 2012. “Numerical model for nonlinear analysis of masonry walls.” Ph.D. thesis. Aachen, Germany: Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule Aachen Univ.
Chen, W. 1982. Plasticity in reinforced concrete. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Contamine, R., A. Si-Larbi, N. Q. Than, and P. Hamelin. 2011. “Numerical modeling of reinforced concrete beams under shear stress with and without external textile-reinforced concrete reinforcement.” J. Reinf. Plast. Compos. 30 (15): 1293–1303. https://doi.org/10.1177/0731684411420189.
Cunningham, P. 2014. “Why use MPC based contact for ‘bonded’ connections?” Accessed March 26, 2016. https://caeai.com/blog/why-use-mpc-based-contact-bonded-connections.
Dahl, K. 1992. A failure criterion of for normal and high strength concrete. Lyngby, Denmark: Technical Univ. of Denmark.
Dahmani, L., A. Khennane, and S. Kaci. 2010. “Crack identification in reinforced concrete beams using ANSYS software.” Strength Mater. 42 (2): 232–240. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11223-010-9212-6.
Drucker, D., W. Prager, and H. Greenberg. 1952. “Extended limit design theorems for continuous media.” Q. Appl. Math. 9 (4): 381–389. https://doi.org/10.1090/qam/45573.
Drysdale, R., A. Hamid, and L. Baker. 1994. Masonry structures: Behavior and design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Fanning, P. 2001. “Nonlinear models of reinforced and post-tensioned concrete beams.” Electr. J. Struct. Eng. 2 (1): 111–119.
Ferozkhan, M. 2005. “Development of a dry stack masonry system for effective resistance to out-of-plane bending.” M.S. thesis. Brisbane, Australia: Central Queensland Univ.
Gorst, N. J., S. J. Williamson, P. F. Pallett, and L. A. Clark. 2003. Friction in temporary works. Edgbaston, UK: Univ. of Birmingham.
Jaafar, M., W. Thanoon, A. Najm, M. Abdulkadir, and A. Ali. 2006. “Strength correlation between individual block, prism and basic wall panel for load bearing interlocking mortarless hollow block masonry.” Constr. Build. Mater. 20 (7): 492–498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2005.01.046.
Jackson, R., and J. Streator. 2006. “A multi-scale model for contact between rough surfaces.” Wear 261 (11–12): 1337–1347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2006.03.015.
Kachlakev, D., T. Miller, S. Yim, K. Chansawat, and T. Potisuk. 2001. Finite element modeling of reinforced concrete structures strengthened with FRP laminates. Salem, OR: Oregon Dept. of Transportation.
Kaushik, H., D. Rai, and S. Jain. 2007. “Stress-strain characteristics of clay brick masonry under uniaxial compression.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 19 (9): 728–739. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0899-1561(2007)19:9(728).
Klingner, R. 2010. Masonry structural design. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Köksal, H. O., C. Karakoc, and H. Yildirim. 2005. “Compression behavior and failure mechanisms of concrete masonry prisms.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 17 (1): 107–115. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0899-1561(2005)17:1(107).
Kwaśniewski, L. 2013. “Application of grid convergence index in FE computation.” Bull. Pol. Acad. Sci., Tech. Sci. 61 (1): 123–128. https://doi.org/10.2478/bpasts-2013-0010.
Laursen, T. 2003. Computational contact and impact mechanics. New York: Springer.
Lin, K., Y. Totoev, H. Liu, and C. Wei. 2015. “Experimental characteristics of dry stack masonry under compression and shear loading.” Materials 8 (12): 8731–8744. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma8125489.
Lourenço, P. B., D. V. Oliveira, P. Roca, and A. Orduña. 2005. “Dry joint stone masonry walls subjected to in-plane combined loading.” J. Struct. Eng. 131 (11): 1665–1673. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(2005)131:11(1665).
Lü, W., M. Wang, and X. Liu. 2011. “Numerical analysis of masonry under compression via micro-model.” Adv. Mater. Res. 243–249: 1360–1365. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.243-249.1360.
Madenci, E., and I. Guven. 2015. The finite element method and applications in engineering using ANSYS. New York: Springer.
Mahboubi, A., and A. Ajorloo. 2005. “Experimental study of the mechanical behavior of plastic concrete in triaxial compression.” Cem. Concr. Res. 35 (2): 412–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2004.09.011.
Marzahn, G. 1999. Investigation on the initial settlement of dry-stacked masonry under compression., 247–261. Leipzig, Germany: Universität Leipzig.
Michel, K. 2015. “Failure behaviour of masonry under compression based on numerical and analytical modelling.” Ph.D. dissertation. Dresden, Germany: Technische Universität Dresden.
MSJC (Masonry Standards Joint Committee). 2013. Building code requirements and specification for masonry structures and related commentaries. TMS 602-11/ACI 530.1-11/ASCE 6-11. Boulder, CO: MSJC.
Murray, E. 2007. “Dry stacked surface bonded masonry: Structural testing and evaluation.” M.S. thesis. Provo, UT: Brigham Young Univ.
Oh, K. 1994. “Development and investigation of failure mechanism of interlocking mortarless block masonry system.” Ph.D. Dissertation. Philadelphia: Drexel Univ.
Parvanova, S., K. S. Kazakov, I. G. Kerelezova, G. K. Gospodinov, and M. P. Nielsen. 2005. “Modelling the nonlinear behaviour of R/C beams with moderate shear span and without stirrups using ANSYS.” In Proc. of Scientific International Conference. Sofia, Bulgaria: University of Structural Engineering and Architecture VSU “Lyuben Karavelov.”.
Pave, R. 2007. “Strength evaluation of dry-stack masonry.” M.S. thesis. Johannesburg, South Africa: Univ. of the Witwatersand.
Peng, W., and B. Bhushan. 2001. “Three-dimensional contact analysis of layered elastic/plastic solids with rough surfaces.” Wear 249 (9): 741–760. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0043-1648(01)00692-5.
Prabhu, S., S. Atamturktur, D. Brosnan, P. Messier, and R. Dorrance. 2014. “Foundation settlement analysis of Fort Sumter National Monument: Model development and predictive assessment.” Eng. Struct. 65 (1): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2014.01.041.
Ramamurthy, K., and K. Nambiar. 2004. “Accelerated masonry construction: Review and future prospects.” Prog. Struct. Mater. Eng. 6 (1): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1002/pse.162.
Roache, P. J. 1994. “Perspective: A method for uniform reporting of grid refinement studies.” ASME J. Fluids Eng. 116 (3): 405–413. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2910291.
Rots, J. G., and J. Blaauwendraad. 1989. “Crack models for concrete, discrete or smeared? Fixed, multi-directional or rotating?” HERON 34 (1): 5–59.
Safiee, N., M. Jaafar, J. Noorzaie, and M. Kadir. 2009. “Finite element analysis of mortarless wall panel.” Rep. Opin. 1 (2): 1–16.
Salas, C. C., and H. S. Sánchez. 2012. “Structural behavior of process steel towers submitted to seismic actions.” In Proc. 15th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering. Lisbon, Portugal: Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
Sayed-Ahmed, E. Y., and N. G. Shrive. 1996. “Nonlinear finite-element model of hollow masonry.” J. Struct. Eng. 122 (6): 683–690. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(1996)122:6(683).
Schwer, L. 2008. “Is your mesh refined enough? Estimating discretization error using GCI.” In 7th LS-DYNA Anwenderforum. Bamberg, Germany: DYNAmore.
Sellgren, U., S. Björklund, and S. Andersson. 2003. “A finite element-based model of normal contact between rough surfaces.” Wear 254 (11): 1180–1188. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0043-1648(03)00332-6.
Stefanou, I., K. Sab, and J. V. Heck. 2015. “Three-dimensional homogenization of masonry structures with building blocks of finite strength: A closed form strength domain.” Int. J. Solids Struct. 54: 258–270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2014.10.007.
Subramani, T., R. Manivannan, and M. Kavitha. 2014. “Crack identification in reinforced concrete beams using ANSYS software.” J. Eng. Res. Appl. 4 (6): 133–141.
Thamboo, J. A., and M. Dhanasekar. 2015. “Characterisation of thin layer polymer cement mortared concrete masonry bond.” Constr. Build. Mater. 82: 71–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.12.098.
Thamboo, J. A., M. Dhanasekar, and C. Yan. 2013. “Flexural and shear bond characteristics of thin layer polymer cement mortared concrete masonry.” Constr. Build. Mater. 46 (1): 104–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.04.002.
Thanoon, W., M. Jaafar, J. Noorzaei, M. Razali, A. Kadir, and S. Fares. 2007. “Structural behavior of mortar-less interlocking masonry system under eccentric compressive loads.” Adv. Eng. 10 (1): 11–24. https://doi.org/10.1260/136943307780150832.
Truong-Hong, L., and D. F. Laefer. 2008. “Micro vs. macro models for predicting building damage underground movements.” In Proc., Int. Conf. on Computational Solid Mechanics, 1–10. Dublin, Ireland: University College Dublin.
Vasconcelos, G., and P. Lourenço. 2009. “Experimental characterization of stone masonry in shear and compression.” Constr. Build. Mater. 23 (11): 3337–3345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2009.06.045.
Willam, K., and E. Warnke. 1974. “Constitutive model for the triaxial behavior of concrete.” In Proc., Seminar on Concrete Structures Subjected to Triaxial Stresses. Zurich, Switzerland: International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering.
Yastrebov, V., G. Anciaux, and J. Molinari. 2012. “Contact between representative rough surfaces.” Phys. Rev. 86 (3): 1–18.
Yastrebov, V., G. Anciaux, and J. Molinari. 2015. “from infinitesimal to full contact between rough surfaces: Evolution of the contact area.” J. Solids Struct. 52 (1): 83–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2014.09.019.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 7 • July 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 29, 2016
Accepted: Dec 8, 2017
Published online: Apr 30, 2018
Published in print: Jul 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Sep 30, 2018
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.