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Cross curves of stability for drystone retaining wall design
Published in Claudio Modena, F. da Porto, M.R. Valluzzi, Brick and Block Masonry, 2016
A.S. Colas, D. Garnier, J.C. Morel, T. Ciblac, C. O'Neill
Drystone is made of rubble stone and does not present a perfectly regular pattern, unlike traditional stone or brick masonry. Nevertheless, stones should be built with staggered joints, both in longitunal and transversal axes, in order to avoid weaknesses in the structure (Fig. 10). Thus, drystone masonry complies with the hypothesis of periodic masonry of the model.
Introduction
Published in Paul F. McCombie, Jean-Claude Morel, Denis Garnier, Drystone Retaining Walls, 2015
Paul F. McCombie, Jean-Claude Morel, Denis Garnier
Because of their durability, stone structures are much more likely to survive for very long periods than structures made of earth, timber or other materials; only fired clay bricks are possibly more durable. Therefore, the proportion of surviving ancient structures that are made of stone does not indicate the proportion of structures made of stone in ancient times. The ability of stone to resist deterioration by moisture has led to it being favoured where it is in contact with the ground, which is a normal requirement of earth retaining structures, so the predominance of drystone technology in ancient earth retaining structures is not surprising. In any case, the simplest way to retain earth is with a massive material. Timber pile walls have been used in soft ground, particularly for quay walls, and timber has been used for bracing excavations, but using the weight of stone working with its rough surface has always been the simplest and most durable means of retaining soil – provided that a suitable stone is available locally.
Assessing the Three-Dimensional Behaviour of Dry Stone Retaining Walls by Full-Scale Experiments
Published in International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 2020
Hong Hanh Le, Jean-Claude Morel, Anne-Sophie Colas, Benjamin Terrade, Denis Garnier
Dry stone walling is an ancient, vernacular building technique that can be found worldwide, in areas where the supply of stones is significant and planning difficult. In Europe, dry stone accounts in particular for a large part of the retaining walls along road networks. Although dry stone structures have proven their robustness and sustainability, when they experience important pathologies or collapse, they are most often replaced with concrete or gabion alternatives, because there is a lack of knowledge of this technology.
Experimental and Theoretical Studies to Characterize Structural Behavior of Dry-Stone Corbelled Arches under Support Disturbances
Published in International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 2022
The corbel height to span ratio and profile of the roofing form an important aspect that determines the stability of the arch/vault. It is essential that the centre of gravity of the system lies within the body for its equilibrium at system level (global stability) as well as at each joint level (local stability). The masonry units are interlocked with the adjacent units both in the plane of corbelling and out-of-plane, with the arrangement depending on thickness of the corbelled section and length of the vault, respectively. Such an arrangement of blocks provides restraints against undesirable movements of the individual blocks that could trigger mechanisms of failure but can also trigger strength-related failure criteria within a block (e.g., compression or shear tension failure). Dry stack stone constructions are typically governed by the inelastic, non-linear response of the joints or interface between blocks. The behaviour of dry-stone masonry is different from that of the masonry with mortar as the lateral load resistance of the wall is solely due to the frictional resistance of these joints. Under the influence of combined lateral and gravity actions, the joint shear stress may exceed the joint shear strength leading to failure (see Figure 2b). Hence the joint surface roughness will play an important role on the shear strength of joints (Naik, Bhowmik, and Menon 2021). Also, collapses of dry-stone structural systems observed during monsoonal rains could point to the adverse effect of the moisture in dry jointed systems by reducing the shear resistance of joints. Although the material strength parameters of individual blocks do not directly affect the structural stability of corbel systems, local material failure may occur at some critical location, within complex configurations, triggering a collapse mechanism (Figure 2c). The masonry units in such structural forms are bounded by adjacent units and therefore are subjected to multi-axial states of stress, which may result in failure of the units upon exceedance of the ultimate strength limits, if joint failure is precluded. Hence, the unit crushing strength, the tensile strength and the shear strength can become critical parameters. Different collapse mechanisms that can be triggered in such structural systems are as shown in Figure 2(a,b,c,d).