PSI - Issue 78

Francesco Ascione et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 1334–1341

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Table 1. Experimental results of both TR confined and unconfined clay brick masonry columns. P u [kN] f c [MPa] ε c [-] ε cu [-] Unconfined 449.15 7.18 0.004 0.006 Commercial S-TR 814.65 13.03 0.08 0.011 “ G reen” S-TR 528.61 8.45 0.009 - Commercial B-TR 641.55 10.26 0.007 0.009 “ G reen” B-TR 575.32 9.20 0.006 0.011

The failure mode observed in the unconfined column was brittle, characterised by the formation of wide vertical cracks that initiated at approximately 50% of the peak load. These cracks progressively widened up to the maximum load, propagating through both the vertical mortar joints and the bricks themselves, some of which experienced complete crushing (Fig. 3.a).

(a)

(b)

(d) (e) Fig. 3. Failure modes observed: (a) crushing of unconfined column; (b) vertical cracks along the jacket (representative green B-TR specimen); (c) main crack at the corner (representative commercial B-TR specimen) and (d) fibre rupture (representative commercial S-TR specimen).