Uncertainty in Bond Strength of Unreinforced Fly-Ash Brick Masonry

Abstract

Lateral loads such as wind and inertial forces from earthquakes are resisted by the bond strength of brick masonry structures. The consideration of uncertainty in both load and resistance capacity is vital for limit state design of masonry structures. This paper investigates the variability associated with shear, flexure tensile, and split tensile bond strength of fly-ash brick masonry. The bond strength data were obtained from laboratory-prepared specimens made of commercially available fly-ash bricks. Three goodness-of-fit tests, namely Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Kolmogorov-Smirnov-Lilliefors, and Anderson-Darling, were carried out on the selected distributions, and the most appropriate distributions for modeling the considered bond strength parameters are recommended.