Deformation of large stones masonry.

Introduction. The paper investigates the stress-strain state of masonry walls made of large ceramic stones with dry vertical tongue and groove joints.Aim: to study the distribution of vertical stresses in masonry of large ceramic stones with vertical tongue and groove joints not filled with mortar.Materials and methods. The study was performed on the model of the wall section. Numerical study of the stress state of the wall masonry at a concentrated load was carried out for masonry with chain bond. The wall fragment was modeled by solid finite elements.Results. It was found that under a concentrated load, the deformable zone has the form of a triangle with a vertex under load and expanding as it moves away from the load point. Based on the studies conducted, the authors of the paper have proposed an approximate method for determining compression stresses in masonry stones with chain bond. When the load is concentrated, the zone of distribution of compressive stresses in the masonry has the form of a triangle. The study established the characteristics of the distribution of compressive stresses in chain masonry of walls made of large stones with dry vertical joints at a concentrated load.Conclusions. The study shows that the existing methods of calculating solid masonry are not suitable for calculating masonry with dry vertical tongue and groove joints because the latter comprise a discrete-continual system.