Studies on the Strength of Plastered Brick Masonry Prisms

Abstract

Masonry buildings are the most common type of construction used for housing purpose both in urban and rural areas. The load bearing walls of masonry structures are usually designed to carry axial loads. However, they are often subjected to lateral loads due to wind and earthquake. The characteristics of brick masonry are influenced by the properties of bricks, mortar and brick-mortar interface. In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the affect of plastering on compressive strength and flexural strength of brick masonry prisms. Experimental work has been carried out to assess the compressive strength and flexural strength of rendered and standard brick masonry using compression test, modified bond wrench test and two point loading test. Tests were carried out on the constituent materials used in the present experimental investigation. A total of 30 prisms were tested with different proportions of cement mortar 1:4, 1:6, cement soil mortar 1:4:4 and polyester coating in order to study the influence of plastering on strength of brick masonry. The major conclusions of this experimental study are plastering increases the measured compressive and flexural strength of rendered brick masonry prisms. Rendered prisms are found to be stiffer than that of the standard prisms.