3.1Â Masonry units alone and within assemblages commonly fail in a tensile mode when loaded in compression to failure. These tensile stresses result from differences in modulus of elasticity and Poisson's ratio between the masonry unit and mortar. Additionally, the dissimilarity in behavior of the grout within cores of masonry units under load leads to tensile stresses in the units and results in a splitting failure.
3.2Â This test method produces a line load along the bed surface of the masonry unit. The compressive load applied to the unit, imposed by means of bearing rods, results in a tensile stress distributed over the height of the unit for the split length of the unit. This test method can be conducted with the rod oriented either in the longitudinal direction or in the transverse direction of the bed face. The splitting tensile strength is calculated by the equation given in 7.1.
| SDO | ASTM: ASTM International |
| Document Number | C1006 |
| Publication Date | June 1, 2013 |
| Language | en - English |
| Page Count | 3 |
| Revision Level | 07(2013) |
| Supercedes | |
| Committee | C15.04 |