Wet and dry conditions influence on natural stone cladding performance with dowel-pin anchor system

Abstract

Natural stone cladding with dowel-pinned anchor systems are commonly used in building façades. Their loading behaviour and mechanical performance in wet and dry conditions is not fully understood, particularly the correlations between the pore structure and the anchorage breaking loads. To answer this concern, a series of breaking load tests on dowel-pinned anchors in both soaked and dry condition were carried out for two Portuguese limestones commonly settled in architecture. The load bearing capacity by analysing the rupture geometry and rupture angles was enquired. These data were co-related to the porous structure assessed by helium and mercury porosimetry, water absorption and SEM microstructural analyses. The results were found to generally link saturated stones with higher open porosity to lower anchorage breaking loads. The results of this research can improve the structural safety of stone claddings and will increase awareness of the importance of water absorption in their performance.