The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

A literature survey -- compressive, tensile, bond and shear strength of masonry

Mayes, Ronald L.; Clough, Ray W.

UCB/EERC-75/15, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1975-06, 211 pages (515/M29/1975)

The literature survey presented collates most of the available relevant information on the compressive, tensile, bond and shear strength of masonry. The report is divided into two chapters. The first, on the compressive, tensile and bond tests of small test specimens, summarizes information on the basic tests that determine different properties of nonhomogeneous, masonry assemblages. These basic tests are important in that they provide practical methods for the site control of masonry quality by measuring the integrated effect of any variations in component materials and workmanship. The second chapter summarizes most investigations performed on the shear strength of different assemblages and includes sections on test techniques, monotonic tests, model tests and cyclic tests. Further discussion and analysis of the results from the experiments described here are presented in the report entitled "State-of-the-art in seismic shear strength of masonry -- an evaluation and review," by Mayes and Clough, Oct. 1975 (UCB/EERC-75/21).

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-75-15.pdf (8 MB)