Material Characterization of the Historical Unreinforced Masonry Akaretler Row Houses in Istanbul

Abstract

The determination of built-in material properties is a difficult step during the structural assessment of historical structures. Large variations of material characteristics and the difficulty of obtaining an adequate number and type of material samples are among the major problems. In this study, the material characterization of the approximately 135 years old historical Akaretler Row Houses was carried out. Since several structural walls of the row house complex were to be removed according to the restoration design, a large number of different types of specimens could be collected for laboratory tests and a considerable amount of in situ destructive and nondestructive tests was carried out. The laboratory tests included mechanical, physical, and chemical tests on original materials such as bricks, mortar, brick prisms, cores consisting of two layers of bricks and one layer of mortar between bricks, and wallets. The in situ tests included destructive shear tests and nondestructive rebound hammer tests. At the end of the extensive experimental study, the basic material characteristics of the late period Ottoman construction system were obtained. In addition relations between various mechanical characteristics of the construction materials, as well as the relations between the results of the laboratory and in situ tests, and destructive and nondestructive tests are presented.