Largest Brick Structure in the World: Jetavanaramaya

Tharindu Ishan Edirisinghe UNMC 009966

1. INTRODUCTION
Jetavanaramaya (also known as Jetavana) was built by King Mahasena in 273-301 AD. Situated in the ancient city of Anuradhapura, which was the capital of Sri Lanka during that era. At the time of its inception, Jetavana was appreciated as the third tallest structure in the world followed by the Great Pyramids of Giza. Jetavana currently has a Volume of 233,000 cubic meters, which inarguably makes it the largest brick structure in the world. In 1985 Jetavana was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. After its construction, Jetavana stood at 121.9m (400ft). At present, Jetavana stands at 70.7m with a base diameter of 102m. It is a brick stupa, where more than 93,300,000 baked bricks have been used for its construction (Ranaweera, 2004). 1.1. Back Ground Jetavana is a religious monument built to honour the Eight Great Deeds of Lord Buddha and to enshrine the possessions of Lord Buddha. Jetavana is said to enshrine a sash or belt tie which belonged to Lord Buddha. Construction of a stupa is believed to be a great deed in Buddhism; hence countless number of Kings in ancient Sri Lanka built stupas to accumulate good Kamma. Furthermore, the presence of a stupa gives one a feeling of stability, strength, nobility, and grandeur (Ranaweera, 2004).. Figure 1 Jetavanaramaya Stupa.

Source: De Silva, 2010

Largest Brick Structure in the World: Jetavanaramaya

Tharindu Ishan Edirisinghe UNMC 009966

2. DESIGN
Jetavana is a solid construction, mostly composing of burnt bricks. 2.1. Components The design of the stupa can be broken down into 9 main components. Figure 2 shows the basic components of a Sri Lankan stupa. Figure 2. Main components of a Sri Lankan stupa. Main Components of a Stupa 1, 2, 3 - Basal rings 4 - Dome 5 - Square Chamber 6 - Cylinder 7 - Spire 8 - Minaret 9 - Crystal

Source: Ranaweera & Silva, 2006, fig. 10

The dome is the largest and structurally the most important component of the Jetavana. There are many different dome shapes used for stupas such as; bell, bubble, paddy, pot & lotus. In the case of Jetavana, the paddy heap shape was adopted. This dome shape is geometrically similar to an ellipsoid. The basal rings, square chamber, cylinder and spire are all made of different sizes of burnt bricks, made specifically for each component of the stupa.

Largest Brick Structure in the World: Jetavanaramaya 2.2. Foundation

Tharindu Ishan Edirisinghe UNMC 009966

Like all mega stupas, the location of Jetavana was carefully chosen so that the bed rock was situated close to the surface. In the case of Jetavana, the foundation extends 8.5m (28ft) to the bed rock (W. Geiger, 1950). No accountable source of the foundation constructions of Jetavana exists. However, the Mahavamsa a chronicle that records the history of Sri Lanka contains a description of, construction of a foundation of a mega stupa similar to Jetavana, called Ruvanvelisaya. This account states that initially the proposed land was dug out to the bedrock. Then crushed rocks were carried in to fill the space and were compacted by elephants, whose legs were covered with leather. Afterwards, butter clay was used to fill in and level out the surface of crushed rock. This is followed by a course of bricks placed on top of the clay. Over this, a layer of lime paste was reinforced by a network of iron. The last layer was sheets of copper and silver for water proofing (W. Geiger, 1950). The end product was a reinforced concrete foundation with water proofing. This foundation method might have been used for the construction of the Jetavana foundation, as Ruvanvelisaya was constructed 100 years prior to the construction of Jetavana.

3. MATERIALS
Also according to Mahavamsa there was firm quality control on materials used by the ancient builders. 3.1. Bricks The bricks used in the construction of Jetavana had much better strength and a larger size relative to modern factory made bricks in Sri Lanka. The properties of the bricks used in Jetavana are given in table 1. Table 1. Mechanical properties of Jetavana bricks. Property Compressive strength Tensile strength Youngs modulus Poissons ratio Specific weight Value 8500 kPa 850 kPa 4.5 GPa 0.25 16.9 kN/m3 3

Source: Ranaweera, 2004, Table 4

Largest Brick Structure in the World: Jetavanaramaya

Tharindu Ishan Edirisinghe UNMC 009966

There were different sized bricks used. This was because various sizes of bricks had to be used for different parts of the stupa. 3.2. Mortar An analysis done by Abeyratne (Ranaweera, 2004) on the mortar in Jetavana, revealed that the mortar consisted of finely crushed dolomitic lime & sand and clay in a ratio 1:5. The role of mortar was primarily to fill the gaps in between the bricks. Therefore, a thin mortar of slurry consistency was used in the construction. 3.3. Brickwork Given that the mortar was of thin consistency, the mortar layer was close to zero. This made better transfer of load between the bricks, virtually by direct contact. 3.4. Plastering A final layer of plaster was used on the outer surface of the brickwork to provide water-proofing for the stupa. Figure 3. Ancient brick work of Jetavana Stupa.

Source: Ranaweera, 2004, fig. 16

Largest Brick Structure in the World: Jetavanaramaya

Tharindu Ishan Edirisinghe UNMC 009966

4. CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
The design of a stupa is far more complicated than that of a pyramid. Thus, builders who worked on Jetavana showed great technological skills and management skills. The site was well supervised and quality control was a major priority for the builders. Mahavamsa gives a description of, construction of colossal stupas similar to that of Jetavana. (W. Geiger, 1950)

5. STRUCTURAL ASPECTS
According to Prof. M.P.Ranaweera, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya, the paddy heap shape of Jetavana was ideal in terms of the structural perspective. This is due to the gradient of the paddy heap being equal to the angle of repose. This in turn creates very low tension in the dome due to self-weight (Ranaweera & Silva, 2006). According to many, ancient builders have discovered this shape from trial and error. A Finite Element studies done by Prof. Ranaweera on Jetavana, showed that a maximum vertically compressive stress of 837kPa exists at the centre of the stupa at foundation level. This compressive stress is 1/10 of the maximum strength of the brick. In addition, the hoop and radial stress are compressive with a maximum stress of 208 kPa (Ranaweera, 2004).

Largest Brick Structure in the World: Jetavanaramaya

Tharindu Ishan Edirisinghe UNMC 009966

6. CONCLUSION
Due to the strict quality control of construction material & construction management, Jetavana was able to earn the title of the largest brick structure in the world during the time of its construction. Even in the present (after conservation program), this stupa stands as the largest brick structure in the world. Figure 4 Jetavanaramaya in the 1880-1890.

Source: Jetavanaramaya Dagoba Ruined. 2009

Figure 5 Jetavanaramaya in the 2010

Source: Loroj. Anuradhapura Jetavanaramaya. 2010

Largest Brick Structure in the World: Jetavanaramaya

Tharindu Ishan Edirisinghe UNMC 009966

7. LIST OF REFERENCES
Ranaweera, M.P, Ancient stupas in Sri Lanka Largest brick structures in the world. 2004. CHS Newsletter No. 70, December 2004, London, Construction History Society. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. < http://www.stupa.org.nz/imagine/CHSPaper.pdf >. Ranaweera, Munidasa, and Silva, Gamunu, Conservation And Restoration Of Ancient Stupas In Sri Lanka. 2006. Proc. of Tenth East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering & Construction EASEC10, Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok, 2006. Web. 3 Nov. 2011. <www.stupa.org.nz/imagine/Ancient_Stupas_in_Sri_Lanka.pdf>. Pieris, Kamalika. Architecture and Landscape in Ancient and Medieval Lanka. Web log post. Lankalibrary. 25 June 2006. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. <http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=19>. Pieris, Kamalika. Engineering skills in ancient and medieval Sri Lanka. Web log post. Lankalibrary. 24 Dec. 2008. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. <http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4568>. W. Geiger, 1950, Mahavamsa or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon, Ceylon Government Information Department. djvu.txt >. De Silva, Ranga. Jetavanaramaya. 2010. Photograph. Anuradhapura. Pix.stcscouts.com. 14 June 2010. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. <http://pix.stcscouts.com/rangadesilvablog/?p=1440> Jetawanarama Dagoba Ruined. 2009. Photograph. Ancient Ruins, Anuradhapura, Ceylon. Lankapura. 2009. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. <http://lankapura.com/2009/05/abhayagiri-dagoba-ruined-atanuradhapura-ceylon/>. Bryenh. Sri Lanka | Anuradhapura. 2010. Photograph. Flickr. 22 June 2011. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryenh/5911597784/.<http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryenh/5 911597784/>. Loroj. Anuradhapura Jetavanaramaya. 2010. Photograph. Flickr. 24 May 2010. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/26751081@N06/4636335478/>. Archive.org. Web. 8 Nov. 2011. <http://www.archive.org/stream/mahavamsaorgreat00mahciala/mahavamsaorgreat00mahciala_