China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
External masonry loadbearing walls
Published in Derek Worthing, Nigel Dann, Roger Heath, of Houses, 2021
Derek Worthing, Nigel Dann, Roger Heath
The alternative to rubble walls is ashlar. Ashlar (which again is a style not a material) is stone that is cut with great accuracy and laid on very thin mortar joints. Although rubble work was often valued for its ‘rustic’ appearance as well as its relative low cost, ashlar generally tended to be associated with more prestigious buildings.
Building history
Published in Duncan Marshall, Derek Worthing, Roger Heath, Nigel Dann, Understanding Housing Defects, 2013
Duncan Marshall, Derek Worthing, Roger Heath, Nigel Dann
Ashlar is a style of stonework in which finely cut stones of uniform height, with true squared face surfaces, are laid with very thin joints (3–4mm). Ashlar stones are expensive and used in relatively thin dimensions (100–175mm was common) and, as such, were always ‘backed’ with a lesser material (random rubble and later brick) to make up the finished thickness of the wall. In order to bond the ashlar to the backing, occasional bonding stones were provided. These were commonly a piece of ashlar returned at 90° to the face of the wall and running the full thickness of the finished wall. Later, bonding stones were omitted in favour of iron cramps or ties, which bonded the two halves of the wall together. Ashlar was the most skilled and expensive of stonework, demanding care in its planning and execution.
Investigation of Drift-based Damage Limit States for Historical Masonry Structures
Published in International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 2023
The second dataset was organized by Vanin et al. (2017), and it includes 123 quasi-static tests on stone masonry walls. This dataset comprises both monotonic and cyclic quasi-static tests. Indeed, it has a better representation of historical masonry owing to its classification according to the Italian Code (2009). The definition of each masonry typology is listed in Table 4. Most of the stone masonry is dressed rectangular stone masonry/ashlar masonry (typology E) with a ratio of 26% of the total specimens. Then, it is followed by irregular stone masonry (typology A), uncut stone masonry with three-leaf stone (typology B) and cut stone with a good bonding (typology C), as given in Figure 9. It is stressed that masonry typologies also have an important influence on the masonry response in terms of lateral load and drift capacity. However, most of the codes do not consider masonry typologies as a parameter to determine the lateral strength and drift capacity for historical masonry. On the other hand, NTC (2018) implements this aspect by roughly distinguishing between regular and non-regular walls, for which different shear failure modes may occur depending on both mortar and unit strengths and on the type of assembling.
Analytical Derivation of Seismic Fragility Curves for Historical Masonry Structures Based on Stochastic Analysis of Uncertain Material Parameters
Published in International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 2019
Savvas Saloustros, Luca Pelà, Francesca R. Contrafatto, Pere Roca, Ioannis Petromichelakis
A detailed survey and inspection campaign performed on site (Vendrell et al. 2007) provided valuable information regarding the dimension and inner morphology of the structural members. Walls and buttresses are composed of three-leaves whose external layers are made of ashlar masonry with lime mortar joints, while the inner core consists of irregular rubble masonry. All the stone materials come from the quarries of Montjuïc hill in Barcelona. Sonic tomography carried out on the columns revealed the inner morphology of the octagonal piers, with rows consisting of four external hexagonal stones surrounding a square central one (González 2008). Each row is rotated 45º with respect to the inferior ones to provide interlocking between stone blocs. Compared to the rest of vertical load-bearing members, the piers can benefit from a higher strength and stiffness due to the large dimensions of the stones and the thinness of the mortar joints.
Earth-Based Building Materials. The First Use of Clay Mortars and Adobes in Antiquity in Cyprus
Published in International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 2022
When used as a mortar, clay aims to fill the space between the external faces of rubble and ashlar masonry (Figure 1(a-b)), as well as between the succeeding layers of rubble stones and adobes (Figure 1(c-d)). The thickness of the mortar between the successive layers of adobes was about 0.01–0.03 m. An interesting aesthetic result derives from the use of a different colour of binding material (i.e. clay), compared to the colour of the adobes themselves in Khirokitia, Marki-Alonia, Alambra-Mouttes, Maroni-Vournes (Figure 1(c)) and Hala Sultan Tekke. This was probably not intentional, as initially, as a rule, a final layer of plaster covered the surface of the structure.