1 Professor and Director of the Masonry Research Laboratory, Drexel University, Philadelphia. PA.
2 Research Fellow, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Drexel University. Philadelphia. On leave from Hclwan University, Cairo, Egypt.
3 Professor and Vice-Dean, College of Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.
ABSTRACT
One of the very early type of masonry materials used in construction is natural stone. Sedimentary rocks such as limestone were used in building construction in Egypt during the 12th to 15th century period Multiwythe masonry walls made of two stone masonry outer wythes with a wide cavity filled with pieces of stone and low quality mortar was the common type of wall construction in this period. Unsatisfactory seismic performance of these buildings has been observed in past earthquakes. specially during the most recent earthquake of October 12th, 1992. There is an urgent need to restore and repair this type of walls. In this paper, a review of previous experimental work carried out to study wall behavior, in-situ evaluation. nondestructive evaluation, repair and retrofit of stone masonry is presented. Review of literature reveals that further research is needed to provide a better understanding or the behavioral characteristics of multiwythe stone masonry walls and to develop repair and retrofitting methodologies. An overview at1d objectives of an ongoing cooperative research program between Drexel University at1d Helwan University on multiwythe stone masonry walls are also presented.
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