Utilization of partially destructive test methods on mechanical properties of historical lime mortars

Strength data gained from the structure is needed for the structural analysis of historical structures. Moreover, the knowledge of mechanical properties of the original mortarswould be valuable at the pro-cess of the design of repair mortars. Although there is a set of in-situ tests to obtain the mechanical performance of the masonry, these are very destructive and undesired to apply for historical buildings. In some cases, in order to make experimental study in laboratory, a number of test samples with comparatively higher sizes are taken. It is impossible to take standard size samples from a historical building. Offering sample convenience with minimum damage to the building may be more preferable. Point-load testing that is mostly used for the determination of the rocks, might appear to be used for the determination of mechanical properties of small sized mortars. However this method needs to be adapted for historical lime mortars, which are very weak com-paring to rock. This paper aims to present the results of different techniques that would be proper to use on especially small sized samples to determine their mechanical properties of historical mortars. For this research, specimens with varying sizes were prepared using five different mortar design. Hydraulic lime, sand and brick aggregates were used in mixtures. Compressive strength of mixtures were determined with both uniaxial com-pression tests and point-load tests at 70 days. Point-load tests were conducted on specimens prepared in different sizes. The coefficients of the point load tests were determined for lime mortars. Then the results were compared and a correlation was obtained.