
*** A Strategy for Material Characterisation of Multi-wythe Masonry Infrastructure: Preliminary Study  ***

Authors: Xi Li, Rita Esposito

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628CN, Delft, the Netherlands


Corresponding author: Xi Li, Rita Esposito
 
Contact Information:

xi.li@tudelft.nl, r.esposito@tudelft.nl

Office 23.HG 6.50.1
Delft University of Technology - Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
2628CN Delft
The Netherlands

***General Introduction***
This dataset is being made public both to act as supplementary data for the publication of Xi Li and Rita Esposito, as well as for other researchers to use 
this data in their own work.

The data in this data set was collected in Stevinlaboratorium of Delft University of Technology - Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, 
between May 2022 and May 2023.

***Purpose of the test campaign***
The purpose of these experiments was to provide insights on the material characterization of multi-wythe masonry infrastructure, in particular to explore
 a through-thickness effect of mechanical properties and to benchmark the core testing as an efficient slightly-destructive testing method.

***Experimental setup***
During the renovation of a bridge in the city of Amsterdam, a portion of masonry with dimensions 0.6  1.4  1.2 m3 (length  height  thickness) was extracted 
from a pillar originally built in 1882. The extraction took place in April 2020; afterwards the portion was caged in a steel box and stored in uncontrolled 
conditions. The portion of masonry is made of solid clay bricks having on average a length of 210 mm, a width of 100 mm and a height of 50 mm, 
and of mortar joints having a thickness ranging from 2 mm to 20 mm. The solid clay brick is made of clay from the Old Rijn or Utrecht, while the type of mortar is 
a cement-lime mortar which is made of shell lime, latent hydraulic binder (cement and trass), sand in the proportion (by volume) of 5:3:1or 5:2:2 according to 
archive research. Regarding the bond pattern, the front side of the masonry wall is built in Dutch bond (a row of headers alternated to a row of stretchers);
however, through the thickness direction the internal bricks were mainly laid as headers although a clear bond pattern was not identified. Samples (e.g. cores, couplets,
prisms, triplets)) were extracted in the portion of masonry above water level and different samples through the thickness direction of the masonry wall were collected. 
Details about sample extraction can be found in Section 2.1 in the related publication.

Various mechanical tests, including tests on cores and on rectangular samples (e.g. couplets, prisms, triplets) were performed: compressive tests on cores and prisms, 
splitting tests on cores, shear-compression tests on triplets, bond wrench tests on couplets, to characterise compressive properties of masonry as well as shear and 
bond properties of brick-mortar interfaces. Details about test setups can be found in Section 2.2-2.4 in the related publication.

***Description of the data in this data set***
The data included in this dataset has been organised to separate xls-files based on the figures in the related publication, and a folder named "crack propagation 
history for cores and prisms under compression" which includes images of samples mentioned in the related publication.
