| Interlocking mortarless or "dry stacked" masonry construction represents an attractive alternative to conventional block masonry with mortar joint construction. The attractiveness of increased construction efficiency with potentially less skilled labor and thus lower costs accounts for the worldwide interest that has been shown for this new masonry construction technique. The present study examines the potential use of the interlocking mortarless blocks by performing both experimental and analytical investigations.;Two different types of interlocking mortarless blocks have been physically modeled at 1/3 scale and small masonry assemblages were tested under compressive, shear, and flexural loads. Structural performance was compared to similar conventional block mortar jointed specimens fabricated by the same laboratory techniques. Results showed that the failure mechanism has been altered due to the lack of joint filler material and the resulting progressive contact behavior at the dry joints. Thus, a focus has been made on the effect of the geometric imperfection at the bed joints to the structural behavior of the mortarless masonry under axial compression.;A three dimensional nonlinear finite element model is developed in the ANSYS general purpose FEM environment. The required FEM input data including uniaxial stress-strain relations, nonlinear localized contact stiffness, frictional behavior, and geometric properties were determined by extensive experimental investigation. Very good agreement between the deformational behavior of the physical and the FEM models has been achieved.;Based on the experimental evidence and the stress fields generated by the FEM model, a failure mechanism of the drystacked masonry under compressive load is proposed. |
