Dry masonry mechanics received little attention from research community, when
compared with resources invested in traditional (mortared joint) masonry. Therefore,
this work focuses on the characterization of Coulomb failure criterion and the loaddisplacement
behaviour of dry masonry joints under cyclic loading, including aspects
as surface roughness, dilatancy, inelastic behaviour, different stones and moisture
contents. A displacement controlled test set-up using masonry couplets is used for this
purpose. Besides providing a basis for understanding the behaviour of masonry joints,
the experiments contribute also to the definition of non-linear numeric models
