Investigation of mechanical properties of masonry in historic buildings

Mechanical properties of masonry from the historic Beylerbeyi Palace are analyzed in the paper. The indirect procedure was used as the owner did not allow usual testing. The mineralogical structure of the original mortar was initially determined. This was followed by preparation and laboratory testing of mortar and masonry samples. Mechanical properties obtained were corrected through dynamic identification so as to determine the real modulus of elasticity of the masonry. To this aim, an ambient vibration survey was performed, and the finite-element model of the palace was constructed and tuned. Finally, the strength parameters of the masonry were corrected.