Load transfer mechanisms in masonry: Friction along a crack within a brick

Sliding tests were performed to investigate friction under transverse compressive loading along a crack within two different perforated clay bricks. Two procedures, corresponding to two different layers of the crack's plane, respectively parallel and 45o sloping from the direction of the brick's holes, have been followed. This is because the presence of such holes should give the block an anisotropic local behaviour. The aim of this testing is to develop the brick-to-brick local load transfer mechanism model in the sliding phase between the crack's faces; the results provide strong support for a simple, constant-friction model and lead to the evaluation of the related friction coefficient.