Experimental investigation of progressive instability and collapse of no-tension brickwork pillars

Abstract

The progressive instability behaviour of compressed dry-stone rectangular pillars loaded with an eccentric load is assessed experimentally and compared with the theory. Photoelastic compression tests were designed and executed on polymethylmethacrylate brickwork pillars to reveal, i) the load-bearing capacity of the structure and the load-lateral displacement relation, ii) the effect of the eccentricity in the stress distribution along the structure, iii) the collapse mode of the system at high eccentricity. By employing a no-tension material model with linear behaviour in compression, new analytical, closed-form expressions for deformed shape of the structure, location of the neutral axis in a generic cross section and axial displacement are provided. The photoelastic stress analysis outcome fully confirms the analytical predictions for both low and high eccentricity loadings.

Effect of Eccentricity of Applied Force and Geometrical Imperfections on Stiffness of Stack of Cuboidal Steel Elements

“…The critical loading for such systems was determined in the paper [ 22 ]. Theoretical analyses and experimental tests on stacks made of stone elements were described in the paper [ 23 ]. This paper confirmed analytical relationships for a critical load, based on experimental tests.…”

Experimental Study on Distribution of Landslide Thrust in Pile-Anchor Structure based on Photoelastic Technique

“…With regard to stress visualization, the distribution characteristics of isochromatic fringe of strain and stress can be successfully observed based on the refringence in optically materials by photoelastic technique, and then the strain and stress fields can be also quantitatively analyzed [13][14][15][16][17][18]. The force details of the materials can be calculated based on the photoelastic response of the materials as viewed in polarized light field, while recording useful additional information in the normal light field [19].…”