Search

Ceramic bricks are most frequently used for arranging the cladding layer of external layered masonry walls. The recent tendency has focused on a thinner cladding layer. Masonry lintels are used for making openings in the cladding layer. The article presents the results of experimental investigation in masonry lintels of 85 mm and 55 mm in width and 2 m long span. The experimentally established and calculated according to EC6 recommendations masonry lintels bearing load capacity has been compared.

The article describes the main reasons of efflorescence on the facing brick surface coated with polymer that leads to its delamination in operated buildings. To reduce efflorescence moisture, infiltration in the masonry should be reduced, the rate of which depends on the capillary porous structure of bricks. To control the porosity, building ceramic is suggested to be modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes dispersions of Graphistrength CW 2-45, which enhances the structure of adobe, improves its sintering, increases the structure uniformity of ceramic fragments and efflorescence resistance. Ceramic matrix of the modified samples before and after firing has a dense and uniform microstructure with the minimum of deep interconnected pores. Adding carbon nanotubes in the amount of 0,001% from the formed mass provides the modification of the ceramic matrix and improves its physical and mechanical properties by 30-35%.

The reconstruction of the former administrative building of the beginning of the 19 th century in the center of St. Petersburg on the main avenue and adaptation it to the modern Hotel is considered. The new 6-storey building is done as a concrete frame with max height 27,7 m. The underground floor 66,9 x 20,09 m for parking and technical rooms is planned under the whole area of the building. The 4-5 storey brick block of flats and 3-5 storey administrative building, the historical memorial, adjoin to the building under the reconstruction. The adjacent buildings have cracks and defects due to general wear, rigidity decrease of the building and low deformation characteristics of the soil. The soft water saturated soil under the basement become thixotropic under insignificant dynamic effect (transport, seasonal freezing and etc). Prior to dissembling the building it was done the monitoring of the adjacent buildings and the reinforcement of their foundations using the method of injecting cement grout into foundation and erecting 75 tilted anchor piles 25 m long, 200 mm diameter according to “Titan” Technology. The protection walls of the excavated pit for underground space in the reconstructed building was done by metal sheet pile “Arselor 37-700”13,5 m long, boring piles 27m long and diameter 410 mm. Additionally jet-grouting piles were erected to the depth min 2 meters from the footing of the existed foundation along the break walls of the adjacent buildings. While excavating the pit in order to provide the sheet pile stability, the strut from metal pipes was done. In order to make pile base under the frame of the building 162 bore piles 27 m long and diameter 550 mm were used. The piles were made according to the Drilling Displacement System (DDS) technology. Scheme of constructive decisions are given. The monitoring during the foundation construction and the beginning of the upper part construction showed that the additional settlement of the adjacent buildings did not exceed 20 mm, the limited allowance for this type of the building.

In modern architecture, especially in dwelling buildings, one of the most popular and frequently used materials for construction of load-bearing walls are AAC blocks with thin layer joints. Such type of masonry units is recommended for construction of masonry walls with unfilled head (horizontal) joints. Construction speed using this technology is higher and brick work is easier. Unfortunately, there is also a negative aspect of unfilled head joints: such walls are characterised with low crack resistance, especially in case of shearing loads. This is a common problem in the buildings located in the areas of seismic influences, but also in buildings subjected to uneven settlements. One of the solutions to improve the crack resistance of the masonry walls made of AAC blocks is application of superficial strengthening using CFRP mats. This paper presents the results of laboratory tests which investigated the effectiveness of strengthening with carbon fibres strips in different assembly configurations. Three series of masonry specimens were tested: unstrengthened wallettes, small rectangular walls with strengthening on both sides with strips mounted on the surface and covering the head joints, and specimens with strengthening also on both sides but with CFRP strips mounted outside of the head joints. All specimens were subjected to diagonal compressive loading according to RILEM LUMB 6 recommendations. An increase of shear capacity of both types of strengthening with respect to the unreinforced elements was observed. In general, a positive effect of external strengthening was defined, however, the tests also showed that the number of CFRP strips can be reduced and what are their recommended location as well as orientation in relation to bed joints.

The cement industry is responsible for around a 5% of the CO 2 emissions worldwide and considering that concrete is one of the most used materials in construction its total effect is significant. An alternative to reduce the environmental impact of concrete production is to incorporate certain amount of residuals in the dosing, limiting the replacement percentages to avoid significant losses in the mechanical properties of the final material. This study analyses the variation in the mechanical properties of structural concretes with recycled aggregates and waste brick powder as cement replacement to test the effect of the simultaneous use of different residuals in the same material. All concretes are dosed for a compressive strength of 30 MPa. The recycled aggregates are obtained from prefabricated pipe debris with a compressive strength of 20 MPa. The waste bricks are obtained from construction demolitions. Four levels of replaced cement by waste brick powder are considered: 0%, 5%, 10% and 15%. Also, two kinds of samples are studied regarding the amount of recycled aggregates: 0% and 30%. All these levels are combined to analyze the effect of both residuals in the mechanical properties of the concrete through compressive strength tests, flexural strength tests and elasticity modulus tests, all of them after 28 curing days. Results show that when no recycled aggregates are used, the cement can be replaced up to a 15% by waste brick powder. But when both residuals are combined the amount of waste brick powder recommended without significant losses in the final material properties is limited to a 5%. Replacing a 30% of the aggregates together with a 5% of the cement can considerably reduce the environmental impact of the final material.

In this article the authors examine the construction wastes using autoclave foam concrete, silicate brick and an artificial mineral substance such as cement clinker as an example. Studies have shown that these materials have geoecoprotective properties and they can neutralize heavy metal ions. Therefore the authors suggest applying these materials in geoecoprotective technologies of transport construction to reduce environment pollution. The aim of this research is in agreement with the principles of sustainable development.

Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG) is an energy saving production building that used to grow vegetables in winter. The north wall of CSG plays an important role concerning the vegetable production without additional heating during the winter months. This paper studies a north wall of a CSG which is built with three layers, the phase-change material wallboard/the block brick /the insulation board. To determine the optimum thickness of the three-layer wall for passive solar heating, a solar greenhouse model is constructed by Energy Plus v8.6 to study the dynamic heat storage/release characteristics of the wall and develop methods to estimate its thickness. The results show that the optimum thicknesses of the phase-change material wallboard, the block brick and the insulation board of the expanded polystyrene in Beijing are about 50 mm, 620 mm and 60 mm, respectively. The results can provide reference for the optimization design and thermal performance analysis of solar greenhouse.

In line with Malaysia government environmental policy and encouraging of utilizing sustainable materials such as those from natural resources in order to reduce the detrimental effect of synthetic materials on the environment, it has brought a challenge to investigate how it can be achieved by benefiting the agricultural wastes into useful products. In this study, bricks are prepared from rice husk (RH), corncob (CB) and coconut coir (CC). Gelatin-hexamine, (G.HEX) linseed oil (L.OIL) and sodium metasilicate-aluminum sulphate (AL-SM) are used to modify the fibers prior to bricks fabrication in order to improve their dewatering behavior and enhance the cement-fiber bonding. After subjected to 28 days of hydration period at room temperature, the bricks were characterized through static bending, parallel compression and water absorption (WA). Results indicate that brick of linseed oil treated fiber provided an improvement in the brick's properties. Coconut coir brick (CCB) shows the highest compressive and flexural strength and lowest WA follow by rice husk brick (RHB) and corncob brick (CBB). It is demonstrated that the concept of green composite bricks for sustainable infrastructures is feasible, although an extensive amount of research remains ahead.

In many historical buildings lintel area is being damaged by time degradation, overload and uneven settlement of foundations. The effect occurs as visible cracks in the lintels and area near them. Some types of lintels are more vulnerable than others. All these factors are important in consideration of construction durability. This paper shows the results and analysis of experimental tests performed on lintels with different shapes at West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Poland.

Wall as spatial partition and facade of a building gives impact not only for building aesthetic, but especially for the occupant's convenience. In the preference of wall material, especially for high rise apartments, hotels or offices, its mass/m2 and its noise reduction become an important criteria that must be considered by the building owner and architect in order to give a more lightweight construction and a quieter interior for occupant's convenience and privacy. In this paper, lightweight material that has been investigated is calcium silicate board, as an alternative to brick as a common wall material. The findings of this research, by flexural strength test in normal condition, are generally categorized in class 2 and 3. By soak-dry test as durability test for outside uses, there are no cracks found in all samples and the flexural strength decreases but less than 30% so that it meets the SNI 7705:2011 standard. By warm water test, this material cannot withstand against temperature at 60 degree centigrade or higher. By heat and rain test, this material can withstand the heat and rain conditions. By noise reduction as sound isolating enclosure, this material is unable to perform as a noise barrier.

In order to study the feasibility of the ceramsite concrete applied in energy saving renovation of existing buildings roof, we use three kinds of different particle sizes of ceramsite, including big (diameter 15-18mm), middle(diameter is 6-9mm) and little (diameter 3-5mm) particles, river sand, and concrete, with the same ratio, to make bricks for studying the physical properties and mechanical properties. Implement research on roof insulation performance of water storage roof bricks made by ceramsite concrete in existing buildings through the experimental test of water storage bricks. The results show that the big particles provide the best anti-pressure performance, lowest thermal conductivity, and lowest dry density, thus the performance is best. Using water storage bricks made from ceramsite concrete in the energy-saving reconstruction of existing buildings roof effect is well, and the maximum temperature difference is up to 27.1 degrees compared with common roof.

The thermal performance of building envelopes, including heat insulation performance and dynamic property in multiple heating operation conditions, was concentrated on this paper. The north wall of the experimental building has four kinds of envelope constructions, and thereby marked as the external insulation wall, internal insulation wall, intermediate insulation wall and solid brick wall, the lengths of which are all 650 mm in square. Results shown that the external insulation wall had the highest inner surface temperature and achieved the best indoor thermal comfort in the process of continuous heating, while the internal insulation wall had the fastest inner surface temperature change and obtained the best indoor thermal comfort during intermittent heating condition. Moreover, the closer to indoor low energy storage materials, the better thermal performance and energy efficiency of the envelope construction would achieve.

The long life of bricks in different conditions, especially in the presence of moisture, promotes progressive changes in ceramic material. Over time it can cause a gradual loss of the original performance of bricks. This process is related to, inter alia, the accumulation of salt originating from the external environment in ceramic texture. The crystallization of salts in the bricks and the related process of changes in volume of ceramic material can be the reason for pressure crystallization. In addition, expansive corrosion products can form in the reaction of salts and components of ceramic body. This causes the creation of stresses in the material and its cracking. Therefore, studies were undertaken, whose aim was to determine the size of line deformation changes of ceramic materials caused by the accumulation of various salts in the bricks of different textures. The periodic exposure to corrosion of ceramic materials in solutions of NaCl and MgSO 4 by alternately saturating and drying were conducted. The scope of research included determined changes of linear deformations of studied bricks, caused by crystallization of salts of sulfate, chloride, or both. As a diagnostic characteristic of the changes, measurement results of elongation samples with dimensions 250x30x65 mm cut from a brick were adopted. Based on the obtained results it has been shown that crystallization of both salts in ceramic materials increases the dimensions of bricks. The greatest deformations of bricks throughout the study period were recorded in the case of chloride salts. It was further found that exposure to corrosion leads to strong deformations and destructions of bricks in the long term. This was observed particularly in the case of the brick samples subjected to a corrosive environment containing both sulfate ions and chloride. In order to determine the causes of differentiated resistance of the bricks in corrosive environments (resulting changes of dimensions), studies on the porosity, compressive strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity of the bricks and observations of their microstructure were performed.

The basic condition for proper function of a face wall in external environment is providing structural integrity within its entire period of usage. Structural integrity can be defined as construction ability to maintain bearing capacity, functionality and shape within acceptable ranges without arising state of emergency during exploitation. Wall structural integrity results first of all from construction mortar which, except for bearing function should also provide protection from entering water into the wall interior. The processes of water capillarity, drying, and freezing are dependent on microstructure and open porosity. In the article there are introduced tests of three mortars (cement, cement with plasticizer, and cement-lime based) formed in wall joints. In order to prepare mortar samples from joints of wall elements for porosimetry tests, mortar was separated from bricks in such way that whole joint was left intact. By breaking, each layer of mortar was divided parallel to the joint surface into three parts – two parts adjacent to brick base (each 1/4 of layer thickness) and the middle part sized 1/2 of joint thickness. By Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry the basic microstructure parameters were measured, as well as pore volume distribution in the function of their diameters as integral and differential relation. The analysis of pore volume variation for integral distribution let us state the pore sizes which as additional, are formed in mortar in the area of joint adjacent to wall element surface. Independently of mortar type, in this area there are additional pores created, which are responsible for capillary flow. In cement mortars there are additionally macropores created which decides about water migration through a joint and about its gas permeability.

This paper takes as its starting points the current national standards and regulations as well as provisions of BS 8102:2009 (Code of practice for protection of below ground structures against water from the ground) and psychometric chart (the humid air chart). Given the above data, it is desired to present the possibility in which a technological solution used to waterproofing rehabilitation of building infrastructure can be optimized. The method has been successfully implemented at churches and castles, in order to eliminate the rising damp and to drain the affected brick walls. In this regard we have developed a software application which allows better and faster evaluation of the optimal technological solution as well as quick comparative assessment of the intervention costs.

This paper introduces a new method water-retaining roof brick to reduce the energy cooling load in meeting people's comfort demands in hot seasons. An experimental model of passive evaporation is designed in order to explore a complete heat transfer process law of water-retaining brick in hot summer and cold winter region. The result of using a flat roof with water-retaining brick shows a drop of 1.9 °C in the indoor temperature in summer compared to the base case of the conventional flat roof in residential buildings. In addition, the results indicate the cooling load required for the building will decrease after using water-retaining bricks on roof and also using the radiation shield on roof. The best solution to increase the indoor thermal comfort is water-retaining brick rather than roof with shield, because the evaporation process plays a supporting role to ease the city heat island effect. Thus, it's the most optimal scheme.

The influence of replacing cement by ground brick was investigated in this paper. The materials used in this study were two cements of different composition (higher and lower content of C 3 A), and two ground fired-clay bricks of different composition (“acid” and “lime” bodies). The replacement levels of cement with ground bricks chosen for the tests were 10, 20, 30 and 40% wt. The main aim of this research was to investigate changes in physical and chemical properties and pore structural characteristics in modified composites. Experimental results showed that changes in the properties of the cement-brick composite depend not only on the replacement level, but also on the kind of brick.

The paper presents the attempt of description an orthotropic material model, which takes into account the changes of the material parameters, depending on the load direction. The analyzes are carried out for masonry structures in numerical models consisting of uniformly material with the averaged properties. The use of material is only possible if the material model describes the sensitivity of material strength which depends on principal stress direction. This model sensitivity will be presented in stress-space by boundary surface changes. This paper shows the changes path of the boundary surface due to direction loads on the layered structures.

With the increase of wealth, people tend to modernize their houses by replacing the traditional wooden houses to brick buildings. Unfortunately most of these “modern non-engineered buildings” collapsed during earthquake, while the traditional wooden houses remain undamaged. In previous studies, the authors have shown that the strength of the traditional building was in the construction of the columns which were not fixed to the ground but rested on top of flat stones, hence simulating friction base dampers. In this study a typical non-engineered brick building is used as a prototype, it is also assumed that this building is built properly. Two types of building are considered, the first one has its tie beams anchored to the foundation. While in the second one, the tie beams are not anchored to the foundation, allowing the building to slide thus simulating friction damper. Both non-engineered brick buildings are subjected to spectrum consistent earthquake excitations with several return periods. The prototype building with anchors is treated as pinned on the anchor locations, while the one without anchor is treated as friction base isolation. A third building assuming no infilling brick wall is also analyzed as a comparison. The result shows that the two buildings can stand to earthquake with a return period of 500 and 2500 year, however the one with pinned base suffers some small damages. However the bare frame already showed extensive damages due to 500 year earthquake. It is worth to note that the building with friction base attracts only 66% of the total base shear of the one with pinned base.

The paper presents the methodology of in-situ testing based on the flat-jack device. The flat-jack method belongs to the minor-destructive tests (MDT). Beside NDT, MDT are recommended for historical buildings. In the paper the results of authors’ laboratory studies on brick walls were presented. Tests were carried out using various types of flat-jacks in terms of their shapes and materials from which they were made. Additionally, during flat-jack tests various methods of displacement measuring including optical measurements based on a digital image correlation method (DIC) were performed. The studies allowed the authors to provide recommendations on the selection of the flat-jack type for determining compressive stress in brick masonry.

Heat and humidity processes occurring in external wall of heated buildings depend mostly on external climate factors, i.e. air temperature and relative humidity, rainfall, sun radiation and conditions inside rooms. In three layer walls the face layer is specially endangered as humidity together with negative temperatures contribute to lowering its durability. Increased humidity content results in lowering insulating properties of materials which in turn leads to increasing heat consumption in a building during the heating period. In the article there are introduced results of simulations performed with WUFI ®PRO 5 software which aimed at analysing the face layer humidity changes caused by: exploitation conditions defined by 3rd and 4th class of room internal humidity, external climate influence, partition orientation. The calculation were performed for two different internal partitions drying from technological humidity during the initial five years of building exploitation. The partition in question is a three layer wall with pore ceramic 25 cm thick and elevation layer of clinker brick 12 cm thick. In the first variant insulation is mineral wool, in the second - styrofoam. For the particular layers of analysed partitions initial humidity content was assumed as resulting from technological conditions for building walls. The simulation let us state the technological humidity drying period of face layer, as well as humidity changes during the later period of exploitation resulting from climate influence. It was stated that elevation layer humidity condition is strictly associated with applied thermo-insulating material and partition orientation according geographic directions.

The paper concerns the issue of analysing the moisture content of thick masonry walls in historical buildings. The research methods, including non-destructive methods, which are useful in the assessment of such objects, were first indicated. Then, the exemplary results of tests conducted in the basement of a medieval town hall with the use of some of the previously mentioned methods were presented. Based on the authors’ own research, the developed correlative relation between the mass moisture of brick walls in the analysed building and the dimensionless parameter which was measured using the non-destructive dielectric method was also presented. This relation was used to assess the mass moisture of brick walls in this building. It can also be successfully used for non-destructive testing of the moisture content in walls of other buildings dating back to the turn of the XIV/XV century.

Ground vibration generated by rail and road traffic is a major source of environmental noise and vibration pollution in the low-frequency range. A promising and cost effective mitigation method can be the use of heavy masses placed as an array on the ground surface near the road or track (e.g. concrete or stone blocks, specially designed brick walls, etc.). This work concerns the effectiveness of such "blocking" masses. A semi-analytical lumped-parameter method is utilized, assuming that the blocks are point masses situated on an elastic half-space. The work is enhanced by examples highlighting advantages and disadvantages of single-mass scatterers and multiple-mass scatterers.

The article describes the research of the human background exposure to natural radionuclides in Volgograd region premises and presents the methods to protect the population from the influence of natural radionuclides. Direct studies established the absorbed dose rate of Volgograd region in the areas of wood, brick and concrete buildings. The frequency distribution analysis of natural radionuclides’ effective specific activity in building materials has been done. It was found that the exposure of population to building materials irradiation in Volgograd region is bigger than the Russian average. It is found that the long-term exposure to a certain dose of irradiation results in a more serious injury than a short-term exposure to the same cumulative dose.

The paper presents the results of thermo technical research of three-layer brick walls with effective insulation layer. The calculation results of three-dimensional temperature field shows the character of the temperature distribution in the thickness of the wall at different thicknesses of the insulation layer. It was found that a considerable thickness of insulation that provides the requirements of modern Building Code adversely affects the performance qualities, durability and resistance to freezing and throwing of the outer layer of bricks. With high thermal protection of insulation layer brick veneer is subjected to a complete freezing for 5 months, while at a low level of thermal protection freezing occurs within three months. That is why, increasing of thermal protection of external fencing needs to be combined with the development of requirements for frost resistance and durability of bricks used for the outer layers of the wall construction.

Since the second half of the nineteenth century in the city of Valladolid, Spain, facades were built with exposed brick pressed together thin and sunken. This system facilitates the entry of rainwater in the masonry and therefore, its deterioration. However, these facades are in good condition, therefore bricks have been tested to know the characteristics of the ones that influence in the preservation of these facades.

Analysis of the behaviour of historical brick walls is difficult and complicated. However, computer calculations are being increasingly used in the evaluation of cultural heritage buildings and some of their elements. The aim of this paper is to analyze the historic brick walls reinforcement. Different methods of strengthening are compared and discussed. Numerical analysis, based on finite element method, was conducted on the assumption of three methods of wall strengthening: using the steel element (I-beam), overall relaying and partial relaying the wall with new bricks. Analysis of the wall without any intervention was made for comparison. Characteristics of strengthening of historical brick walls are described in the paper. The information should allow for a better understanding of the behaviour of brick wall in this research. Calculations were performed in Abaqus software, for the garrison arrest's prison yard at Bohaterow Monte Cassino Street in Olsztyn in Poland. In this object, prison's yard will be covered with the glazed roofing, resting on the perimeter walls. This is the reason why load transmitted to the wall is increased and why strengthening is needed. Survey allows to calculate displacements and the results are used to select the most appropriate methods of strengthening brick wall in this object. A comparison analysis has been performed and possible directions for further research in this field have been indicated.

The research results of the material, chemical and mineral compositions of waste coal from the processing plant Abashevskaya and carbonaceous argillites from the Korkino coal mine are provided. The technology of waste coal recycling is offered that can be used in the production of coal fuel for bricks burning and preparation of the raw material for ceramics manufacture. On the basis of the pilot plant tests it is shown that the pneumatic waste classification allows coal residues to be extracted from argillites and a stable ceramic raw material to be obtained for the brick manufacture. Such complex processing of waste coal does not only provide a significant expansion of the raw material base for the production of building materials and generation of additional energy, but will also help to solve environmental problems and improve the environmental situation in industrial regions. Due to the introduction of the patented method of production and rational compositions of the granulated molding materials there is an increase in operational properties of ceramic wall materials produced from the waste coal after secondary processing. The study of thin sections using a polarizing microscope and SEM was conducted to examine the structures of the obtained ceramic cork. It was established that high physical and mechanical properties of the brick were achieved by forming the matrix structure of a ceramic crock, intensive generation of the glass phase at the interphase boundary of the composite material and the temperature reduction of processes of a solid-phase sintering during burning.

Authors present the description of the experimental plant based on the auger vacuum extruder at the enterprise for brick production and designed to assess the adequacy of the developed mathematical model of the process of the plastic shaping of the ceramic mixture. The main difficulty in carrying out the comparative analysis is that the shear rate of the ceramic mixture in the extruder pressure head has been taken for the basic output coordinate of the created model. It most fully characterizes the shaping process focused on the production of brick of specified durability. There is no possibility to measure directly on the production unit. To overcome this problem in the structure of the shaping process model pressure of the ceramic mixture behind the extruder protruding blade has been chosen as an additional coordinate. The technique of carrying out experiments is given. Comparison of transient formation pressure obtained on the operating plant and on the model has been made. It is established that their divergence has made 5.2% and that confirms the adequacy of the mathematical model for the ceramic mixture shaping in the auger vacuum extruder.

The purpose of this work was to define the technical condition of the water tower building and an indication of the ways of repairing and strengthening the structure. The function of the building is to provide water under high pressure to water supply installation for a water railway distribution station. The structure was built in 1959. The building consists of four floors above the ground and the basement. The main masonry structure is made of brick casted on lime and cement mortar. Each story is separated by reinforced concrete ceilings constructed as two-way slabs supported by beams. A circumferential reinforced concrete water tank is situated on the top floor. The tank consists of two chambers with the total volume of 250 m 3 . Reinforced concrete stairs are located around the circumferential wall of the building and provide service and technological communication in the building. The roof is constructed with reinforced concrete panels. The scope of the study includes a technical condition assessment of masonry walls, reinforced concrete floors (slabs and beams), stairs, the tank and the dome. For this reason, experimental researches on structural elements were performed. Researches of structural concrete include destructive tests made on drilling trial elements and non-destructive tests, to qualify mechanical properties of the material. Supplementary tests concern the humidity measurements and concrete alkalinity examination. For detection of rebar in structural elements, scanning of the specimen surface was performed and the concrete cover was removed in several places. For brick walls the main attention was focused on moisture content measurements. Experimental investigations and on-site inspections made it possible to assess the level of consumption of individual elements and durability of the structure. On this basis, main guidelines for necessary repairs and strengthening of structural elements which endanger the safety of exploitation were proposed.

Today many designers claim that they are engineering green or LEED certified buildings. LEED is an evaluation system that rates how sensitive buildings are to the environment and the objective of LEED is to reduce emissions through development of highly efficient mechanical systems, designing of durable and efficient wall systems and by providing additional thickness to insulation. Unfortunately currently there are many cases where these wall systems and insulations are supported by thin steel studs, which are highly conductive of energy and are 400 times more conductive than wood. The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of thermal bridging in a LEED certified building. Thermal bridging is a major source of heat loss through studs and wall systems in many buildings worldwide. The investigated building is Gold certified building built in 2011 located in Toronto, Canada. The exterior walls consist of a copper and brick cladding and steel studs. Using thermal imaging, as a non-destructive testing method, this research investigates and identifies the location of thermal bridging. This study recommends how to integrate infrared imaging into the LEED certification process and how to improve the future design of efficient wall systems.

The heterogeneous FEM models of brick walls are analyzed in order to estimate possibility to predict proper failure mechanisms for different biaxial stress modes. The micro-modeling of masonry structures with the application of cohesive elements to describe the mortar joint zone is applied. For the boundary value problems modeling different brick patterns the typical biaxial tests are simulated. In one case (the most typical pattern) the comparison of numerical test solutions with laboratory experiment results on masonry panels in biaxial stress states made by Page is done. The qualitative comparison between numerical and real-life experiments shows the possibilities of application of Abaqus FEA build-in constitutive material models in evaluating the behavior of masonry under biaxial stresses. Such models properly verified can be treated as virtual experimental tests for determination of parameters for macroscopic continuum elasto-plastic models.

Purchase of a large and expensive house becomes more distant vision for most people due to high initial cost, the size estimation difficulties, oversizing effects in higher mortgage and cost of maintenance. Recognizing those problems, a flexible multi-step construction of a house frame structure has been proposed, in order to reduce costs and adapt to the current needs of the end users. Proposed solutions are based on life cycle cost (LCC) analyses, monthly maintenance cost and flexible methodology. Paper presents comparative analysis of brick and timber structure frame house.

Indonesian local brick in the masonry wall with a cement-based mortar has different physical and mechanical characteristics from the developed countries that are always used as references. Because of the different behavior with another countries and low strength of local brick, it requires a lot of research to get the strength reduction factor (R) and the displacement amplification factor (Cd). It is important in order that the design of earthquake resistant buildings in Indonesia more rational with the use of local brick. The study was conducted using cyclic loading with the appropriate protocol to simulate earthquake loads on the model structure that has been scaled. To increase the low performance of confined masonry wall, bamboo strips were used as reinforcement for some models. The study discussed the value of R and Cd towards the Indonesian and developed countries code. The results showed the mechanical characteristics of local brick masonry with cement-based mortar is different from developed countries. The basic differences are the strength and stiffness of the local brick lower than mortar as a binder. This results showed that utilizing equations R and Cd from developed countries needed further attention for local brick masonry in Indonesia.

This study investigated the quality of wall bricks that are used by people in Koto Tangah - Padang to rebuild their homes after the 30 September 2009 earthquake. This research covered the nature of looks, size and tolerance, water absorption and compressive strength of bricks, and compared them with Indonesian National Standard of bricks (SNI 15-2094-2000). Primary data were gained from field sampling and laboratory testing (experimental test) and then were analyzed to determine the quality of bricks. The results showed that the bricks do not meet the requirements of the SNI 15-2094-2000.

This paper presents a study carried out on reinforced concrete brick-filled composite beams. In reinforced concrete beams, less stressed concrete near neutral axis can be replaced by some light weight material like bricks to reduce the weight of the structure and also achieve the economy. Brick replacement zone is obtained with the help of stress block, used for limit state design of RC beams. Method of initial functions is used for the analysis of reinforced concrete brick filled composite beams. The method of initial function (MIF) is an analytical method of elasticity theory. Moreover, by saving concrete we save cement which also reduces the green house gases emissions. In this way sustainability can be achieved.

In rice husk briquette production process, electricity is used to drive the screw press and to heat up the die barrel. In the energy-starve countries, electricity consumption for producing biomass briquette fuel is not rationale. To reduce the electricity consumption in biomass briquette production process, a biomass fired stove is developed to use as the replacement of the electric heater. The biomass stove is capable of raising the temperature of die barrel at desired level for making briquette. The stove is made of refractory brick and clay. The stove is fired with rice husk briquette. The stove provides heat to die barrel instead of electric heater. The stove shows satisfactory performance by replacing the 6kW electric-heater in this study. The modified rice husk briquetting machine consumed about 76kg of rice husk briquette and about 80 kWh of electricity to produce one tonne of rice husk briquette instead of 179 kWh of electricity consumption by traditional rice husk briquetting machine for same quantity of rice husk briquette produced. Hence at least 50% of electricity consumption for rice husk briquette production could be replaced by using the modified technology discussed in this paper.

This paper presents the conservation of Islamia College Peshawar building, a century old brick masonry building of great heritage importance. The scope of work included, repair and rehabilitation of out of plumb domes and dome lets, cracked arches of reception hall, roof treatment and perforated bricks masonry parapet walls using hydrated lime, brick surkhi and jute as mortar. These materials were originally used in the building. The application of above mentioned materials improved both the strengthening capacity of the building as well as the aesthetic appearance.

Pre-stressing of masonry is one of the most widespread building/facility reconstruction methods. In the Czech Republic it is very successful, especially in the Moravian-Silesian Region, which is subject to a considerable amount of disturbances of buildings/facilities due to undermining. Pre-stressing in masonry can be achieved by means of steel wire ropes or rods. These steel elements are inserted into the pre-milled grooves, which may be in the external or internal wall face. The ends of the steel elements are clamped into steel angles or special anchors. In these reconstruction methods it is necessary to follow the pre- stressing procedures and technologies. It is important to properly select the pre-stressing anchoring system, appropriate layout and arrangement of pre-stressing wires, pre-stressing procedure and dimension of pre-stressing forces in the individual wires. This contribution deals with experimental measurements of deformations in the place exposed to local load caused by additional pre-stressing. The measurements are taken on a masonry corner built in the laboratory equipment. This laboratory equipment was designed at the Faculty of Civil Engineering VSB – TU Ostrava for measurement of the tri-axial stress-strain conditions in masonry. Two pre-stressing bars are placed in this masonry corner. These bars are at different heights and are anchored to the anchor plates, which transfer pre-stressing forces to the masonry. The specimen for laboratory testing is performed at the actual proportion of 1:1. Mathematical modeling of the brick corner is based on the finite element method using ANSYS software and then the results are compared with results of the laboratory tests. On the basis of these results it should be possible to improve the models and come closer to achieving an accurate and at the same time, simple procedure for the design of pre-stressed masonry.

A laboratory procedure aimed at generating a progressive deterioration of the interface between brick and mortar layers in controlled experimental conditions was developed at the Non Destructive Testing Laboratory of the Politecnico di Torino. It is intended as a preliminary stage in the design of a pre-qualification procedure to be applied to repair mortars for restoration of historical masonry buildings. Indeed, assessing the durability of repair products is a major concern because of the potential occurrence of de-bonding phenomena due to insufficient compatibility between original and repair materials, in terms of their mechanical characteristics. Therefore, the study of the long-term mechanical interaction between repair mortars and historical masonry substrate turns out to be crucial for the design of durable repair works. In this direction the evolutionary phenomenon of mortar de-bonding generated in the lab is analyzed here through the cohesive crack model. The numerical simulation of the laboratory tests was shown to be able to describe the experimental evidence correctly, thus allowing us to characterize the mechanical behavior of the interface. It is therefore possible to use the analysis presented here to predict de-bonding phenomena in problems with different boundary conditions by changing the simulation parameters properly.

The paper reviewed briefly the current situation of using the buildings which have solid brick wall as the main load-carrying structure in china. The experiment is carried out to study and analyze the consequence of the brick construction which resisted pressure under fire-water sprinkling and high temperature. Compared with the different conditions, the experimental test shows that the structure and the resistibility of the clay brick changes dramatically with constant fire-water sprinkling and increased temperature, that provides some primary data to relative fields.

In this study a special three-dimensional interface element has been formulated for stress and displacement analyses in bonded joint between two adjacent plate bending and brick elements. Interface element has 16 nodes with 5 degrees of freedom in each node adjacent to plate bending element and 3 D.O.F in each node adjacent to brick elements. The interface element has ability to transfer three translations from each side of interface element and two more rotations in the side adjacent to the plate element. Stiffness matrix of this element was formulated and implemented in three dimensional finite element code. Using experimental and numerical work of strengthened RC concrete beams carried out by researchers, application of this element including variation of deflection, slip between plates and bricks, normal and shear stresses distributions in FRP plates have been verified. The results show, that this interface element is effective and can be used for structural components with this type of interface element.

The effects of far distant earthquakes felt in regions with low and moderate seismicity has increased markedly over the last decade. Henceforth fragility curves in this study are to indicate whether buildings are safe to enter or not after an earthquake event occurring more than 300 km away. The probability of light, moderate and severe damage states occurring on two and four storey reinforced concrete buildings up to a peak ground acceleration of 0.2 g were predicted. The building models were constructed using finite element software based on eight node brick elements with three degrees of freedom at each node. The analysis was carried out using a dynamic response spectrum to calculate the peak inter-storey drift ratios. For the development of fragility curves, the results were collated following a log-normal mean distribution. The results showed that light damage is likely to occur with a probability of over 10% within a 50 year period, while the existing record is unlikely to cause structural damage. The fragility curves were comparable to those for RC moment resisting frames obtained by (Rossetto and Elnashai 2003) at a lower drift limit, with approximately 2% of inter-storey drift ratio.

This paper describes the effects of nonstructural brick infills on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete (R/C) buildings. Experimental and analytical studies were conducted focusing on an Indonesian earthquake-damaged building due to the 2007 Sumatra earthquakes. Structural details of the building are summarized herein. A brick wall was extracted from the earthquake-damaged building and transported to Japan from Indonesia to experimentally evaluate its seismic performance. Two R/C single-bay frame specimens were constructed, and the imported wall was installed in one of the specimens. Comparing the seismic performance of specimens with and without the brick infill through quasi-static cyclic loading tests, the effects of infill on the overall frame performance were quantitatively evaluated. Moreover, the seismic performance of the earthquake-damaged building was evaluated numerically considering the findings of the tests. In particular, the contributions of nonstructural brick infills to the seismic performance were discussed through the probabilities of collapse computed under several artificial earthquake ground motions.