Compressive behavior of hollow block masonry prism plastered with steel fiber reinforced mortar with microsilica and nanosilica

The behavior of concrete hollow block masonry prism plastered with steel fiber reinforced mortars with nanosilica under axial compressive load is investigated experimentally and numerically using nonlinear finite element simulation. Experimental results showed that the failure of the control prism initiated with a vertical crack in the web of the hollow block simultaneously with a vertical crack in the middle face of the block. The plaster prevents out of plane failure of the hollow block, sliced at the web under axial load. High strength mortar using steel fiber can be used to enhance the seismic load capacity of masonry walls. L. Facconi et al. has investigated the application of a thin layer of calcium aluminate mortar reinforced with nanosilica and short high strength steel fibers for plastering masonry walls. The mechanisms that govern the response of masonry wall subjected to in-plane lateral load, depends on the compressive load on the wall.