This paper presents a method to analyses the structural feasibility and assemblability of the masonry assemblages composed of interlocking blocks. Interlocking blocks with projections and depressions on their faces have relatively better structural performance comparing to the conventional blocks with flat faces, during and after the construction. Therefore, they can represent proper alternatives to the conventional blocks for the seismic retrofitting of unreinforced masonry structures. Structural soundness and assemblability of a model are both functions of the interlocking block geometry. The proposed methods enable the designer to adjust the shape of the interlocking blocks, while meeting the structural and assembling requirements. The paper first introduces an extension of the limit analysis to the assemblages with corrugated interlocking interfaces having anisotropic sliding behavior. Then, the work reformulates the extended limit analysis to develop a method to measure the structural infeasibility due to the lack of sliding resistance at the interlocking interfaces. This is called sliding infeasibility and the designer can minimize it during the shape exploration. Finally, an assemblability method is presented to check if the designed interlocking blocks can be assembled on the other blocks in contact. This method is added to the extended limit analysis and the sliding infeasibility measurement method in form of a geometric constraint that prevents modeling of un-assemblable structures.
Abstract
This paper presents a method to analyses the structural feasibility and assemblability of the masonry assemblages composed of interlocking blocks. Interlocking blocks with projections and depressions on their faces have relatively better structural performance comparing to the [...]
This paper presents an experimental investigation on the initial shear (cohesion)
and torsion-shear strengths at the interface of an interlocking masonry block. An interlocking
block is a rigid unit with locks avoiding the block to slide. This improves the seismic response
of dry jointed assemblages of masonry structures subjected to in-plane and out-of-plane
loading. The experimental investigation is designed and carried out for the corrugated
interface having one lock with rectangular cross section, i.e. the specimen is an interlocking
unit composed of a main body and a lock located on the upper face of the main body. Cement-
based mortars are selected to reproduce the specimen, casted using a mould provided by a
3D printer, and both the lock and the main body are kept rigid during the tests. The initial
shear and torsion-shear capacities of the interface at which the lock is connected to the main
body are assessed together with its quasi-brittle fracture and registered in terms of load-
displacement curves. In the designed setup, the horizontal force is applied to the rigid lock
until it is disjointed from the rigid main body of the block, while the effect of rocking during
the shear test is avoided. The force and the displacements are measured using a load cell and
Linear Variable Displacement Transducers (LVDTs), respectively. The experimental
programme includes four different sets with different load application points and different
load directions, each set repeated on a number of similar specimens. Empirical formulations
between the initial shear and compressive strengths of the lock interface are also evaluated.
Abstract
This paper presents an experimental investigation on the initial shear (cohesion)
and torsion-shear strengths at the interface of an interlocking masonry block. An interlocking
block is a rigid unit with locks avoiding the block to slide. This improves the seismic response
of [...]
Assemblability Constraints in the Limit Analysis of 3D Masonry Interlocking Blocks 