Witpress Heritage Masonry: Materials and Structures

Masonry is a traditional, highly durable mode of construction; many heritage masonry structures, built at various historical periods, have survived, to a lesser or greater extent, adverse environmental conditions, which have reduced, sometimes considerably, their integrity, strength and durability. Due to the cultural significance of heritage architecture, resources are today allocated towards their restoration and conservation. This volume comprises distinguished contributions from the Transactions of the Wessex Institute describing research efforts towards achieving these objectives. Topics covered include: Understanding of constituent materials, modes of construction and overall mechanical behaviour; Dynamic behaviour; Sonic pulse velocity tests; Micro-vibration measurements; Failure mechanisms; Structural strength assessment; Binding material mixtures; Composition and properties of ancient mortars; Contemporary repair material; Infra-red thermography measurements; Mortars, plasters, renders and grouts. The various issues mentioned above are addressed by the present collection of scientific papers with considerable insight and thoroughness. It is thus hoped that this volume will fill a gap in the literature as a valuable source of information and guidance to researchers and engineers working in the area of restoration and conservation of heritage masonry structures. About the Author Stavros Syngellakis (PhD, Princeton University) has almost forty years of research and teaching experience in solid mechanics and structural engineering. After 32 years as an academic member of the University of Southampton, Dr Syngellakis joined the Wessex Institute of Technology in October 2011 as an Associate Professor. He has published over 100 papers on advanced applications of exact and approximate analytical techniques to a wide range of structural engineering and material technology problems. His current research interests include fatigue crack growth in layered systems; indentation fracture; buckling of laminated plates; projectile penetration mechanics; damage tolerance of composites under high-rate loads. Dr Syngellakis supervised 20 PhD and 1 MPhil programmes to completion and participated in various industry-sponsored research programmes and engineering projects. He is a member of the editorial board of two international journals and a reviewer for numerous others. He has been a member of the scientific advisory committee of, and made invited contributions to, many Boundary Element and other materials-related conferences.