ABSTRACT
Tube-jack testing is an enhanced non-destructive or minimally-destructive test method being developed at the University of Minho. The method was first introduced at the 2010 Structural Analysis of Historical Constructions Conference in Shanghai, China. Tube-jack testing is an enhanced non-destructive or minimally-destructive testing technique being developed to determine the state of stress in, and the deformability characteristics of, unreinforced masonry. This test is similar to traditional flat-jack testing, used for the same purpose. Instead of using flat-jacks, the tubejack system consists of several cylindrical jacks inserted into roughly aligned holes drilled in the mortar joints, forming an equivalent flat-jack, that can pressurize the masonry. A double tube-jack test was performed in the same semi-irregular wall as the single tube-jack test and single flat-jack test. The loading on the wall for this test was the same as for the other tests.
