Chrissy-Elpida Adami

Earth was used in the past to produce mortars either on its own or in combination with other materials (such as lime and sand). Earth mortars were used both in adobe and in stone masonry structures. This article aims to study stone masonries made with earth mortar and their strengthening by grouting. Six wallettes were constructed, in order to study the mechanical properties of the two- and three-leaf stone masonry before and after grouting. In parallel, several compositions of grouts, having different ratios of hydraulic lime (NHL5), earth and water, were designed and evaluated regarding their injectability properties (fluidity-penetrability, stability tests). Moreover, flexural and compressive strength tests were performed. Thus, this project led to the development of a number of suitable mixes that satisfy the performance criteria set for their design. The suitability of those mixes from the mechanical point of view was checked by injecting them to wallettes, subsequently tested in compression.

Masonry infill in reinforced concrete frames has been recognised as being a strong factor influencing the seismic behaviour of buildings. The development of innovative infill systems, coupled with the rigorous study of their behaviour, is of significant importance. Within the framework of the INSYSME project, a new infill system was designed and tested. The finite element modelling consists in individually simulating the behaviour of the frame, masonry and interfaces between the masonry and the infill and between the three wallettes. The chapter presents the experimental campaign that involving in-plane cyclic shear tests performed on a reinforced concrete frame with a masonry infill divided into smaller wallettes. A nonlinear finite element analysis is employed in the simulation of the experiments, which is enriched through a parametric investigation. The experiments are simulated using nonlinear finite element analysis in an effort to highlight the features of the response of the actual structure, to predict the maximum force and to reproduce the failure mode.

This chapter presents details of the developed solution together with experimental results on the behaviour of INSYSTEM 1 against in-plane cyclic and repeated out-of-plane actions. The response of INSYSTEM 1 is compared with the behaviour of a solid unreinforced masonry. The developed infill wall consists in a single leaf masonry wall, which is divided into smaller wallettes by means of deformable vertical joints. The effectiveness of the design approach is assessed through in-plane and out-of plane loading on full scale specimens. The aim of the solution is to increase the in-plane deformation capacity of the infill wall, whereas the collapse of the wall due to out-of-plane actions is prevented using simple sliding connectors. Masonry infills increase the stiffness of the structure, resulting in reduced displacement demands, and contribute to the structure's dissipation capacity, offering an increase of the bearing capacity of the structures.

This chapter investigates the out-of-plane behaviour of two new systems for infill walls, made of clay masonry units. In the first system the enclosure wall is divided into smaller wallettes by means of soft vertical joints, whereas in the second system horizontal and vertical reinforcement is provided. In the latter system, a special brick unit, capable of accommodating steel reinforcement and electrical and plumbing installations, was designed. The systems result in high peak forces and substantial deformation capability, particularly in the reinforced masonry typology. Masonry is considered as an equivalent composite material with nonlinear behaviour; the con-stitutive model is based on a smeared crack approach and simulates the main failure modes of masonry under tension, compression and shear. The comparison between the numerical and experimental data demonstrates that the numerical model successfully estimates the global response of the infilled frames under out-of-plane repeated tests.