MINT: Masonry in-situ testing and material identification

The UK has one of the oldest building stocks in Europe. In England, around a quarter of this stock is of solid brickwork construction. Every year, thousands of such buildings experience structural distress due to seasonal and excavation-induced ground movements. To understand and manage the impact of ground movements on these historic assets, an in-depth knowledge of their materials is necessary.
Standard techniques for characterising the mechanical properties of brick masonry materials require extensive sampling and destructive testing. As a result, these techniques are rarely applied to existing buildings. In-situ testing and characterisation of materials is a promising alternative. However, in their current form, standard in-situ tests provide limited information on material properties. The MINT project aims to develop a minor-destructive in-situ testing method to identify the key macro-scale deformability and strength parameters of historic brick masonry materials. This method will combine unconventional flat jack testing with unambiguous Digital Image Correlation strain measurements and rapid Virtual Fields Method algorithms to overcome the limitations of standard material characterisation techniques. It will deliver a step change in our ability to collect detailed mechanical information on brick masonry materials and unlock the potential of numerical simulations to reliably assess structural response. It is envisioned that this new capability will also enable more informed decisions on retrofit and repair. In the longer term, the developments from MINT will contribute to improve productivity in the construction sector, and the welfare of the general public.