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Mortar
designation Compressive strength of unit (N/mm2
5 10 15 20 27.5 35 50 70 100
(i) 2.5 4.4 6.0 7.4 9.2 11.4 15.0 19.2 24.0
(ii) 2.5 4.2 5.3 6.4 7.9 9.4 12.2 15.1 18.2
(iii) 2.5 4.1 5.0 5.8 7.1 8.5 10.6 13.1 15.5
(iv) 2.2 3.5 4.4 5.2 6.2 7.3 9.0 10.8 12.7
The compressive strength of masonry units may be given in N/mm 2 determined from standard
quality assurance testing during production or be assigned to a specific strength class by the
manufacturer.
In BS 187, units are classified in terms of a Strength Class as shown in Table 2.1
Common brick 2
3 20.5
4 27.5
5 34.5
Load Bearing brick
6 41.5
7 48.5
units
characteristics as determined using laboratory tested masonry specimens and the actual strength
of masonry constructed under site conditions and in addition allows for variations in the quality
of materials produced during the manufacturing process. The value of m adopted is dependent
on the degree of quality control practised by manufacturers and the standard of site supervision,
testing and workmanship achieved during construction. There are two categories of control
adopted in the code:
normal control and,
special control.
In construction, normal control should be assumed whenever the work is carried out
following the recommendations for workmanship in section four of BS 5628 : Part 3 : 1985, or
BS 5390, including appropriate supervision and inspection.
(b) operates a quality control scheme, the results of which can be made available to demonstrate
to the satisfaction of the purchaser that the acceptance limit is consistently being met in practice,
with the probability of failing to meet the limit being never greater than that stated in 27.2.1.2
(a).
In construction, special control may be assumed where the requirements of the normal
category control are complied with and in addition:
(a) the specification, supervision and control ensure that the construction is compatible with the
use of the appropriate partial safety factors given in table 4;
(b) preliminary compressive strength tests carried out on the mortar to be used, in accordance
with A.1, indicate compliance with the strength requirements given in table 1 and regular testing
of the mortar used on site, in accordance with A.1, shows that compliance with the strength
requirements given in table 1 is being maintained.
The value of m in Table 4 applies to compressive and flexural failure. When considering the
probable effects of misuse or accident, these values may be halved except where a member is
deemed to be a protected member1 as defined in Clause 37.1.1 of the code. As indicated in
Clause 27.3, in circumstances where wall tests have been carried out in accordance with
Appendix A of the code to determine the characteristic strengths, the m values in Table 4 can be
multiplied by 0.9.
When considering shear failure, the partial safety factor for masonry strength (mv), should be
taken as 2.5 as indicated in Clause 27.4.
where:
A is the horizontal loaded cross-sectional area of the wall or column.
This factor applies to all walls and columns where the cross-sectional area is less than 0.2 m 2.
Clearly when A = 0.2 m2 the factor is equal to 1.0
The effect of slenderness (section 2.1.5), and eccentricity (section 2.1.6), is to reduce the Load
bearing capacity of a loaded wall or column. The combined effects of both these characteristics
is allowed for in the code by evaluating a capacity reduction factor as shown in Figure 2.25
(Table 7 of the code).
Slenderness ratio Up to
26 0.45 0.38
27 0.40 0.33
NOTE 1. It is not necessary to consider the effects of eccentricities up
to and including 0.05t.