ABSTRACT
The Brazilian technical standard for clay masonry blocks, ABNT NBR 15812-2, is aimed at attaining greater agility and flexibility in this process, allowing the use of bedding mortar instead of grout. Higher load absorption means higher lateral stress and, consequently, higher tensile and shear stresses in the block walls. The top and bottom blocks of the prisms were capped with cement past in order to homogeneously distribute the load. The dimensional variation, gross and net area, initial rate of absorption and the compressive strength of the blocks were tested according the procedures establish by the Brazilian Standard ABNT NBR 15270-3. The compressive strength and modulus of elasticity prism tests were carried on at the age of 28 days as prescribed by ABNT NBR 15270-3. The analysis of variance of the results has shown that, statistically, there was significant influence of the mortar strength on the prism compressive strength.
