A study of the workability of natural hydraulic lime mortars and its influence on strength
Citation:
Hanley R. and Pavia S. , A study of the workability of natural hydraulic lime mortars and its influence on strength, Materials and Structures, 41, (2), 2008, p373 - 381Download Item:
Abstract:
Lime mortars are currently used for both
repairs to historic buildings and new construction. An
important mortar property is workability. Lime
mortars are often described as highly workable,
however, due to the many variables contributing to
workability, this is difficult to quantify. Workability
largely depends on water content, and this will
greatly affect compressive and flexural strengths,
which in turn will determine the overall quality and
durability of a mortar. The objective of this paper is
to examine the relationship between workability and
strength of naturally hydraulic lime (NHL) mortars in
order to optimize their properties for a more efficient
use in building. To this aim, mortars of several
hydraulic strengths were mixed with different water
contents in order to vary flow diameters and charac-
terize workability. Compressive and flexural strength
were then tested to measure the effect of the initial
flow on the strength of the hardened mortar. This
paper demonstrates that NHL 3.5 and 5 mortars
require a flow value close to that of 185 mm
prescribed by the European standards whereas NHL
2 mixes require a significantly lower value. This
paper concludes that one universal flow value is
inadequate when trying to optimize strength of NHL
mortars and that, in order to optimize strength,should be mixed to attain a different flow
diameter for each hydraulic strength. However, other properties such as bond strength and water retention
need to be considered before unique flow diameters
are prescribed to lime mortars of different hydraulic strengths.
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/paviasDescription:
PUBLISHED
Author: PAVIA, SARA
Publisher:
SpringerType of material:
Journal ArticleSeries/Report no:
Materials and Structures;41, 2Availability:
Full text availableKeywords:
Lime mortars, Naturally hydraulic lime (NHL)Metadata
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