This paper presents an experimental investigation into the structural and material response of ambient-dry and wet clay-brick/lime-mortar masonry elements. In addition to cyclic tests on four large-scale masonry walls subjected to lateral in-plane displacement and co-existing compressive gravity load, the study also includes complementary tests on square masonry panels under diagonal compression and cylindrical masonry cores in compression. After describing the specimen details, wetting method and testing arrangements, the main results and observations are provided and discussed. The results obtained from full-field digital image correlation measurements enable a detailed assessment of the material shear-compression strength envelope, and permit a direct comparison with the strength characteristics of structural walls. The full load-deformation behaviour of the large-scale walls is also evaluated, including their ductility and failure modes, and compared with the predictions of available assessment models. It is shown that moisture has a notable effect on the main material properties, including the shear and compression strengths, brick–mortar interaction parameters, and the elastic and shear moduli. The extent of the moisture effects is a function of the governing behaviour and material characteristics as well as the interaction between shear and precompression stresses, and can lead to a loss of more than a third of the stiffness and strength. For the large scale wall specimens subjected to lateral loading and co-existing compression, the wet-to-dry reduction was found to be up to 20% and 11% in terms of stiffness and lateral strength, respectively, whilst the ductility ratio diminished by up to 12%. Overall, provided that the key moisture-dependent material properties are appropriately evaluated, it is shown that analytical assessment methods can be reliably adapted for predicting the response, in terms of the lateral stiffness, strength and overall load-deformation, for both dry and wet masonry walls.

本文对环境干燥和潮湿粘土砖/石灰砂浆砌体元件的结构和材料响应进行了实验研究。除了对四个承受横向平面位移和共存压缩重力荷载的大型砌体墙进行循环试验外，该研究还包括对斜向压缩下的方形砌体面板和压缩下的圆柱形砌体核心的补充测试。在描述了试样细节、润湿方法和测试安排之后，提供并讨论了主要结果和观察结果。从全场数字图像相关性测量中获得的结果能够详细评估材料的剪切-压缩强度包络线，并允许与结构墙的强度特性进行直接比较。还评估了大型墙的全载荷变形行为，包括它们的延展性和破坏模式，并与可用评估模型的预测进行了比较。结果表明，水分对主要材料特性有显着影响，包括剪切和压缩强度、砖-砂浆相互作用参数以及弹性和剪切模量。水分影响的程度是控制行为和材料特性以及剪切应力和预压应力之间相互作用的函数，并可能导致刚度和强度的损失超过三分之一。对于承受横向载荷和共存压缩的大型墙体试样，发现在刚度和横向强度方面，干湿减少分别高达 20% 和 11%，而延展性比下降了 12%。总体而言，如果对关键的与湿度相关的材料特性进行适当评估，则表明分析评估方法可以可靠地适用于预测干湿两用的横向刚度、强度和整体载荷变形方面的响应砖石墙。