Abstract:
The requirements of reliable and durable solutions to repair ancient building
structures without causing new damages lead to choosing materials compatible with the old
ones, such as aerial lime, pozzolan-lime or natural hydraulic lime binders. The use of local
materials can reduce the environmental impacts of the construction sector and control costs.
The performance of mortars depends primarily on the characteristics of their components.
The volume content of aggregates in mortars is around 75-85% and so the mortar’s
performance is strongly affected by the aggregates’ properties, grading and packing. This
paper intends to study the mechanical performance of lime-based mortars, using aggregates
of different lithological natures, which can be found in various regions, as well as different
grain size distributions. For this purpose, mortar mixes of aerial or natural hydraulic lime
with three sands of different mineralogical composition (siliceous, calcareous and basaltic),
composed of two grain size ranges (standard and optimized), are studied. An evaluation of
the mechanical behaviour over time is made and the effect of grading and aggregate type on
the mechanical behaviour of mortars is evidenced and discussed.