Nor Azizi Safiee

Structural Behavior of Mortarless Interlocking Load Bearing Hollow Block Wall Panel under Out-of-Plane Loading

Experimental and numerical investigation of interlocking mortarless wall panels with 1.0 m height, 1.2 m width and 150 mm thickness are conducted. Behaviour of both hollow and partially grouted masonry wall panels is studied. The panels were tested under constant pre-compressive vertical load and out-of-plane lateral load. Lateral load carrying capacity, deflection at mid height, dry joint opening between block layers and mode of failure are investigated. Strain characteristics throughout the loading process are also monitored. A finite element analysis is presented for the system and a good agreement between the experimental and modelling results is achieved. Parametric study using the finite element model is also presented and the effect of different parameters; amount of pre-compressive load and slenderness ratio is studied. The study reveals that pre-compressive vertical load and reinforcement significantly affect the structural behaviour of mortarless walls under out-of-plane loading. Useful expressions for the capacity are obtained from the analysis.

Behaviour of interlocking mortarless hollow block walls under in-plane loading

Abstract Experimental study of five full scale masonry wall panels subjected to prescibed pre-compressive vertical loading and increasing in-plane lateral loading is discussed. All five walls were constructed using interlocking mortarless load bearing hollow concrete blocks. The behaviour of wall in term of deflections along the wall height, shear strength, mortarless joint behaviour and local and overall failures under increasing in-plane lateral loading and pre-compressive vertical loading are reported and analysed. Simple strut-and-tie models are also developed to estimate the ultimate in-plane lateral capacity of the panel walls tested. The results indicate that, as the pre-compressive load increases, the in-plane lateral load capacity of walls increases. All walls tested failed due to diagonal shear and/or moderate toe crushing depending on the level of the pre-compressive load. The proposed strut-and-tie models were able to give reasonable predictions of the walls tested.

Mechanical Properties of Mortar Modified with Cement Treated Tyre Crumb and Oil Palm Fruit Fibre

Addition or replacement of waste tyre in mortars and concretes in lightweight aggregate concrete composites are popular in concrete material research although the mechanical properties of the composite are reduced. Various research studies have been conducted in an effort to improve the mechanical properties of concretes and mortars containing waste tyre particles using chemicals and additives which lead to increase cost. This approach presents an economical and sustainable method, through adding oil palm fruit fibre (OPFF) at 0.5, 1%, and 1.5% by mass of cement content into the matrix and pre-treating the tyre crumb aggregate (0-40%) by volume with cement, in order to improve the properties of the composite. Mechanical properties including compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength were measured on the mortar specimens. Results showed the addition of 0.5% OPFF in 10% treated tyre crumb mortar gives the best improvement in the mechanical strengths of mortar modified with treated tyre crumb.