Probabilistic assessment of masonry compressive strength

Authors

Nebojsa Mojsilovic and Michael H. Faber

Abstract

Structural masonry is a construction material composed of units and mortar, two components i.e. materials with quite different mechanical properties. However, masonry is usually treated as a unique, more or less homogeneous material. The key masonry material characteristic is the compressive strength perpendicular to the bed joints, fx. According to the European structural masonry code this strength can be obtained from known strengths of the components, applying an empiric formula. The present paper discusses the possibility of updating the so calculated strength by means of results of additional tests on masonry elements, which provide more reliable values for fx, by application of Bayesian updating. To illustrate the benefits of this, an example is calculated and recommendations for practical applications and for future work in this area
are provided.

Published in/by

Proceedings ICOSSAR2009, 10th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability, Osaka, Japan, September 13-17, 2009.