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Common deficiency and failure under gravity, lateral loads

Short answer

Under gravity: compression crushing, buckling, local bearing failure, differential settlement; deficiencies include weak mortar and poor bond. Under lateral: in-plane diagonal/shear failure, out-of-plane overturning and bending cracks; deficiencies are lack of bands, ties, large openings near corners, and weak connections.

Explain common deficiency and failure in masonry structure under gravity and lateral load.

Under gravity (vertical) load

  • Compression failure: crushing of units or splitting; vertical cracks (tensile splitting of bricks) when load is high or units/mortar are weak.
  • Buckling of slender walls and columns: high slenderness ratio, large eccentricity.
  • Local bearing failure under concentrated loads from beams and lintels; no bed block.
  • Differential settlement causes diagonal or vertical cracks.
  • Deficiencies: poor workmanship, voids in joints, raked joints, weak mortar, unfilled perpends, thick joints, no bond.

Under lateral load

  • In-plane: diagonal shear, sliding shear and rocking failures.
  • Out-of-plane: overturning, mid-height bending cracks, corner separation.
  • Deficiencies: lack of bands and ties, heavy flexible roofs not tied, large openings near corners, weak connection between walls, no cross walls, slender walls, soft mortar and poor-quality bricks.

Result

Brittle, sudden failure with little warning. Measures: bands, corner bars, controlled slenderness and openings, good materials and workmanship.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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