Moisture transfer through mortar joints: A sharp-front analysis

This article presents an experimental and analytical study of the hygric behaviour of mortar joints, with specific attention to the influences of the curing conditions. Capillary water uptake in masonry is visualised with the X-ray projection method and approximated with the sharp-front-theory. The results imply that the curing of the mortar between bricks modifies its hygric properties and introduces an interface resistance, with the effects proportional to the water extraction from the mortar during the curing. The presented study uses the analytical sharp-front theory to analyse the X-ray-visualised moisture content profiles. Validation of the sharp-front findings with independently determined hygric properties and interface resistances confirms the reliability of the approach. The methodʹs main advantage is its ease of application for interpretation of experiments, as the X-ray visualisations suffice as sole input data. The easy applicability is finally demonstrated on an independent measurement, which again corroborates the earlier findings.