Studies on Flexural and Shear Bond Strength of Masonry Using Cementitious Grouting Materials as Mortar

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the flexural and shear bond strength of the masonry prism. The masonry prisms were constructed in triplet prisms for the shear bond strength test and five levels of stack-bonded prisms for the flexural bond strength test. The bond characteristics of masonry depend on the mortar type and the surface texture of the masonry unit used. To increase the flexural and shear bond strength present work is carried out by using cement concrete bricks as masonry units and grouting materials as thin layered mortar. Most of the work is done on the conventional mortar of 10–12 mm thick however 1–5 mm thick masonry bond is not yet well researched, hence 5 mm thick mortar joint is used for both flexural and shear bond strength for 3, 7 and 28 days and is compared with conventional cement mortar of 1:3 ratio of 10 mm thickness. Reduction in the thickness of mortar joints helps in a faster rate of construction. The results reveal higher bond strength for cementitious grouting material as mortar.