13.2.

2012

MASONRY STRUCTURE
STRUCTURESS
OŠTEĆENJA I SANACIJA

Brick masonry is the dominant
ZIDANIH KONSTRUKCIJA construction method for individual housing
structures and mixed residential
residential--business
OŠTEĆENJA structures with fewer stories
stories..

In other kinds of buildings, which are
Fond: 2+2 based on skeleton structures, partition
walls and outer layers are made of brick.
brick.

Prof.
Prof. dr Vlastimir RADONJANIN
The reason for a widespread use of
masonry walls in construction lies in the
Prof.
Prof. dr Mirjana MALEŠEV characteristics of the material they are
made of
of..
2

Blocks and bricks made of baked clay are:

Inexpensive building material, However, one can justifiably question the

quality of design and construction of

Sufficiently aesthetic,
masonry buildings?

Durable,
Adrian W. Page

Fire
Fire--resistant,

Good thermal insulating and "exceptionally well" "extremely bad"

Soundproofing material.
material.

3 4

Answer is depending on a number of important factors:

factors:
Answer is depending on a number of important factors:
factors:
Up until mid XX century, design of masonry
Even though clay building materials are structures used to be based on empirical methods
technologically easy to manufacture and are that had not changed for centuries.
centuries.
traditionally executed - bonded by mortar,
behavior of the wall as a whole is extremely Stability of these massive structures depended on
the weight of the extremely thick walls,walls, and
complex..
complex
therefore, only small pressure stresses were
This complexity is evident in the interaction present in walls.
walls.
between the main components of the wall
wall::
In contemporary civil engineering these massive
brick and mortar, structures proved to be uneconomical because of
their different physical and mechanical the
the::
characteristics,  costly handwork and
with mortar joints being generally taken as
 larger amount of building material.
material.
the "trouble area" of the wall
wall.. 5 6

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Answer is depending on a number of important factors:

factors:
The main causes for poor quality of walls in buildings
Modern masonry structures have significantly could be :
thinner walls,
walls, and the stability of the structure is
Errors in design and details (for example, walls
secured by inin--plane capacity of the walls, that is, badly connected with RC elements of structure
structure)).
their shearing capacity,
capacity, which then results with
Inadequate quality of building material - baked clay
high stress in walls
walls.. and/or mortar.
mortar.

Special attention therefore has to be paid to the
Inadequate mortar mixtures (for example, huge
design, details and the construction, as is the quantities of plasticizers added for better
workability can significantly reduce amount of water
case with steel and concrete structures
structures..
in mortar, which results in weaker brick and mortar
bonding, which therefore endangers bending
Unfortunately, builders nowadays often regard
strength and shear resistance of the walls
walls)).
masonry walls as an architectural detail instead of
an engineering element of the structure...
structure...
Low quality workmanship (too fast or by unskilled
7
workers)) .
workers 8

Masonry walls and concrete Brick walls could also be considered a kind of
(similarities and differences) concrete:
concrete:

Brick walls and concrete are composite materials that Briks = aggregate
react well to compression, but under tensile loading
exhibit certain weaknesses
weaknesses.. Mortar = cement paste
Solution for this problem usually lies in the construction
concept that secures pressure on these materials all /or Conclusion::
Conclusion
most of the time of their exploitation, with the undesired
tensions reduced to minimum,
minimum, since it is well known that The necessity of using lime in mortar.
mortar.
structure element can only deteriorate with time, because
of the cyclical changes in humidity, freezing and thawing, Not only to improve workability of the mortar, but
expansion and shrinking of the walls when their movement also to increase elasticity of the wall as the
is constrained, etc.. composite and to improve brick and mortar
Raumond Schultz bonding..
bonding
9 10

TYPICAL DAMAGES IN BRICK WALL Efflorescence

Salts that dissolve in water most often get into
Typical damages in brick walls are:
are:
walls from the soil through capillary moisture or

Mold, stains and efflorescence, as initial salts, which are contained in bricks or in
= damp mortars..
mortars

Soft, crumbling and falling mortar,
walls

Spalling of bricks, These salts move with water (moisture) until they

Cracks in walls, reach the place of evaporation.
evaporation.

Wall bows and On the surface of wall Within wall

Bricks falling out of the wall.

Efflorescence Sub efflorescence

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Spalling
Spalling is the loss of surface layer of the
material due to dampness in the wall
wall..

It results from the change in water levels

(moisture) in bricks because of temperature
fluctuations and evaporations from the wall
wall..

Spalling could also be caused by inadequate

mortar, if it contains too much cement, for
example.. Dense and brittle mortars prevent
example
moisture from traveling through the walls to the
exterior surface where it could evaporate.
evaporate.
Salt efflorescence on the surface of the bricks Mortar joints
jointsJ
J
13 14

Cracks
Cracks are commonest visible signs of problems
in walls. They can vary:
PURELY AESTHETICAL TO STRUCTURAL
PROBLEMS COLLAPSE.

Location, orientation and shape of cracks can

often point to the cause of the damage.
Deterioration of brick walls could start with
unnoticeably fissures in some bricks which then,
due to different causes, progressively grow.
If these cracks pass unnoticed in this first phase,
sooner or later they might lead to more significant
Damage on the bricks caused by destructive frost action
15 structural problems. 16

Cracks CracksJ
Fissures and cracks can be found in
in::
 bricks, Cracks that spread through mortar joints
 mortar joints,
 plaster,
 or through all of them.
them. Can be repaired relatively ease,

The directionality of cracks and fissures can be:

 vertical, Cracks that spread through bricks
 horizontal and
 slanted.
Indicate much more serious structural defects
Cracks and fissures in masonry walls cover areas
from 0,3mm to 20mm
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Some possible causes of cracks in masonry It is well known that the occurrence of cracks
walls are: could be limited, even eliminated, if structures
were properly designed and built, and all the

Use of unsuitable materials (bad brick/mortar
details in walls carefully worked out.
combination),

Bad design (lack of expansive joints), It could be achieved by:

Defects which occurred during construction
Introduction of longitudinal reinforcement
of the building, into mortar joints,

Settlement of bearing structures,
Proper dimensions of and distances

Expansive surrounding soil, between expansive joints,

Tree roots near the building,
Using "soft joints", which lessen elastic
deformations and creep deformations of

Incidental actions (earthquakes, explosions)
bearing RC structure,
19 20

Adequate supporting structure of PRACTICE?

masonry,

Adequate connections between walls and Instead of these measures, building owners
bearing structure, and construction engineers put great effort into

Skilled workforce and adequate securing highest possible compressive
supervision,
strength, which is completely unproductive,

Suitable mortar mixture which is especially if we know that walls rarely fall
supposed to secure better bonding because of exceeded compressive strength.
between mortar and bricks during wall
bending and low mortar shrinkage.

21 22

Cracks near the openings in the masonry wall Vertical cracks caused by settlement of the foundation
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SYMPTOMS, CAUSES AND MECHANISMS OF

DAMAGE IN NONSTRUCTURAL MASONRY WALLS

In contemporary engineering masonry walls are

usually used as partition walls which shape living
areas and as coat for skeletal structures
structures..

Although load bearing properties and stability in

cases like these are secured by reinforced
concrete or steel columns and beams,
beams, damages
that may appear in non
non--bearing brick walls could
compromise functionality of the building and in
extreme cases, even lives of the people in them.
them.
Huge diagonal cracks in the nonstructural wall and
damaged ties between walls 25 26

Basic data on typical damage in non-

non-bearing masonry
walls, causes and mechanisms for their appearance
Apart from the causes of damages in masonry
walls given in table, damages are also often
Damage Cause Mechanism appeared due to causes that simmed not to be
Vertical cracks near Movement/sagging of Torsion of the head beam, dangerous.. Some of them are:
dangerous are:
supporting members cantilever elements which bears the wall
above it and is parallel to
 Nonexistent or inadequate flashings,
(beams, slabs, etc.); (for example
cracks wider in lower balconies)
the building. It can cause  Nonexistent damp-
damp-proofing (vapor-
(vapor-proofing),
bending and shearing in
sections of the wall;
diagonal cracks are
the wall above. If there is  Use of inadequate primer or decorative
a wall under the
also possible, whereas cantilever beam, and if it
finishes (colors) in plastered walls,
horizontal ones are is not detached from the
rare; they can get
 Total lack of structural/expansive joints in
beam, apart from the
wider with time, even bending and shearing order to avoid damages in the wall,
if they exposed to stress, this might cause
constant load compressive stress, which
 Poor executed or nonexistent of drip,
may lead to spalling and  Damaged plumbing, waste water piping and
falling out and even total
failure. 27
gutters, 28

 Walls without ventilation, "weepholes" and

drainage in the protective sidewalk,
 Foundations not reaching the ground level,
 Nonexistent vapor barriers on the warmer side
of the wall,
 Nonexistent sealing materials or flashings in
the area of joints which enable differential
movement,
 Inadequate sloping terrain surrounding the
building.
Damages on cladding walls and façade mortar caused
29 by earthquake (RC skeleton building) 30

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CONCLUSION

In order to make masonry walls more durable and

prevent serious damages in them, it is crucial that
this seemingly simple element of structure
receives adequate attention in all phases:
phases:

from its design and building to maintenance,

with careful analysis of numerous construction

details, specific conditions of exploitation and
situation of the building site.
site.
Falling out of façade walls from the RC building
31 32