ABSTRACT
The main goal of the presented research project is to investigate the effect of soft layers on the compressive strength of masonry. Unreinforced clay block masonry wallettes with soft layers made of five different materials (rubber granulate, cork, cork-rubber granulate, bitumen and extruded elastomer) were subjected to compression up to failure. The soft layer was placed in the interface joint between the wallette and the underlying concrete element, either as a single layer or as a so-called multi-layer. Such multi-layer joints consist of a core soft layer protected by two extruded elastomer membranes. The analysis of the test results shows that, especially for a built-in rubber granulate layer a considerable reduction of the masonry compressive strength compared to conventional masonry could be expected in actual masonry structures with soft layer placed in the bed joints. This paper presents research findings together with the discussion of their significance in relation to current design practice.
