The serviceability design of low-rise masonry structures

✍ Scribed by A W Page

• Book ID: 105361017
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 132 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1365-0556
• DOI: 10.1002/pse.86

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Modern structural design requires consideration of both strength and serviceability. With advances in technology, reasonable estimates of strength can be obtained. However, for masonry structures which are brittle and lack tensile strength, the serviceability performance is more difficult to predict and yet is extremely important. For many low‐rise masonry structures (particularly housing) the most common problems which arise after construction relate to serviceability, especially cracking. This cracking may not be structurally significant, but often is aesthetically unacceptable and must be repaired, sometimes at considerable cost. Cracking can result from a variety of sources including external effects (shrinking and swelling of reactive clays with moisture variations, differential foundation movements, etc.), interactions of the masonry with other structural elements, or from dimensional changes in the masonry itself.

Structural systems and masonry types vary, with the masonry sometimes being load‐bearing or otherwise serving as a veneer. In all cases masonry behaves as a brittle material with relatively low tensile strength and is therefore prone to cracking. Cracking can be avoided or minimized by ensuring that induced tensile stresses are kept as low as possible. The structure must also be correctly designed, detailed and constructed and have adequate tensile (bond) strength. This paper reviews all the above aspects, particularly in relation to recent research in structural serviceability carried out at the University of Newcastle, Australia.