DESIGN OF MASONRY

STRUCTURES

Dr. Ratnesh Kumar

Associate Professor
Department of Applied Mechanics
VNIT NAGPUR, www.vnit.ac.in

Department of Applied Mechanics, VNIT NAGPUR

 Mortar

It is the mixture of cementitious material, sand, and water.

Function of mortar
 It should gain enough strength and harden in a reasonable time
so that further courses of masonry can be laid without
excessive racking movements of courses below.
 The fresh mortar should have sufficient workability so that the
mason can easily fill the joints.
 It should have ability to retain water preventing its escape into
masonry units.

Department of Applied Mechanics, VNIT NAGPUR

 Types of Mortar

Mortar can be broadly classified as:

 Cement mortar.
 Lime mortar.
 Cement lime mortar.

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 Cement Mortars

 These consist of cement and sand, varying in the proportion

from 1:8 to 1:3, strength and workability improving with the
increase in the proportion of cement.
 Mortars richer than 1:3 are not used in masonry because
these cause high shrinkage and do not increase the strength
of masonry.
 Mortars leaner than 1:5 tend to become harsh and non -
workable and are generally prone to segregation.

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 Cement mortars set early and gain strength quickly.
 In case of lean mortars, voids in sand are not fully filled, and
therefore, these become pervious.
 Rich mortars, though having good strength have high
shrinkage and thus are more liable to cracking.

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 Lime Mortars
 These consist of intimate mixture of lime as binder and sand,
burnt clay/surkhi, cinder as fine aggregates in the proportion
1:2 to 1:3 as a general rule.
 lime mortars gain strength slowly and have low ultimate
strength than those using fat lime.
 lime mortars using fat lime do not harden at all in wet
locations.
 Properties of mortars using semi - hydraulic lime are
intermediate between those of hydraulic and fat lime mortars.
 The main advantage of lime mortar lies in its good workability,
good water retentivity and low shrinkage.

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 Cement - Lime Mortars

 These mortars have the good qualities of cement as well as

lime mortars, i.e. medium strength along with good
workability, good water retentivity , free from cracks and good
resistance against rain penetration.
 Commonly adopted proportions of mortar (cement: lime:
sand) are 1:1:6, 1:2:9, 1:3:12.

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 Properties Of Mortar

 It should be capable of developing good adhesion with the

building units such as bricks, stones, etc.
 It should be capable of developing the designed stresses.
 It should be cheap.
 It should be durable.
 It should be easily workable.
 It should set quickly so that speed in construction may be
achieved.

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 Uses Of Mortar

 To bind the building units such as bricks stones.

 To carry out pointing and plastering work on the masonry
surface.
 To form an even and soft bedding layer for building units.
 To form joints of pipes.
 To hide the open joint of brick work and stonework.
 To improve the general appearance of structure.

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 Properties Of Plastic (Fresh) Mortar

 The role of plastic mortar during construction is very

important and complex one.
 Mortar must spread easily and remain workable long enough
to enable accurate laying to line and level of the masonry
units.
 It must retain water so that it does not dry out and stiffen too
quickly, especially when using absorbent masonry units.
 It must then harden in a reasonable time to prevent it from
deforming or squeezing out under the weight of the units.

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 Various properties of fresh mortar are:

WORKABILITY
 Workability defined as the behavior of a mix with respect to
all the properties required during application, subsequently
working and finishing. A mortar with good workability will
have the following properties:

 Ease of use, i.e. the way it adheres.

 Ease of spread on the masonry unit.
 Ease of extrusion between courses without excessive
dropping or smearing.

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Water Retentivity
 This is the property of mortar that resists water loss by
absorption into the masonry units (suction) and to the air, in
conditions of varying temperature, wind and humidity.
 As in general rule, cement mortar has good water retentivity
while plain cement mortar made with coarse ungraded sand
has low water retentivity. In general, mortar having good
workability also has good water retentivity.

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Bond
 The greatest factor influencing bond strength is normally the
cement content.
 In general, the higher the cement content, the greater the bond
strength.
 Air content is also an important factor and research has shown
that excessively high air content reduces bond at the brick
interface.
 Workmanship is a key factor in affecting bond.

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Durability
 Durability of mortar defined as its ability to endure aggressive
conditions during its design life. Air entrainment of mortar
improves resistance to freeze - thaw damage. Deterioration in
mortar takes place due to:
 Frost action before the mortar has gained sufficient strength
and repeated cycles of freezing and thawing.
 Prolonged chemical action between soluble sulphates present
either in burnt clay bricks or in soil in contact with masonry in
foundation.
 Ingress of moisture through cracks into the body of the
masonry and consequent repeated cycles of wetting and drying
over a number of years and crystallization of salts.

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 Grout

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 Grout

 Grout for masonry construction is a form of high slump

concrete consisting of cementitious materials , aggregate and
water.
 Grout is used to fill cells in hallow masonry units to increase
capacity and hold reinforcing steel in place.
 It is also used to fill cavities in masonry to produce grouted
reinforced wall or beam sections.
 Such fluid mix ensure good flowability and complete filling of
voids.

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 Fig. Sampling of grout

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 Types of grout

 Most masonry construction, grout spaces are small and size of

aggregate chose accordingly.
 Grout spaces are 50mm or less, maximum sand aggregate of
size 6mm should be used.
 For grout spaces over 50mm, maximum coarse aggregate of
size 10mm should be used.

Based on grout space, requirement, specification there are two

types of grout:
1) Fine grout
2) Coarse grout

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 Fig. Grout types by volume proportions

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 Admixtures used for Grouting

 Many grout admixture are on the market that may be useful on

project employing highly absorptive units.
 Such admixture can help control the rapid loss of water from
grout and potential shrinkage cracking both within grout and at
the grout interface.
 Admixture typically contain a slight expansive agent to offset
shrinkage
 Calcium chloride should not be used as an accelerator in cold
weather condition because of its potential corrosive effect on
any embedded steel.

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 Reinforcement

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 Reinforcement

 Reinforcement used to resist tensile and shear stresses induced

by various load conditions.
 To increase axial load carrying capacity.
 To provide ductility under seismic and abnormal loadings.
 And also employed for control cracking due to shrinkage,
temperature effects and applied loads.
 Steel employed in masonry structures are
1. Reinforcing bars
2. Joint reinforcement
3. Connectors
4. Prestressing steel

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 Reinforcing bars

 Same reinforcing bars as used in concrete construction are

employed to reinforce masonry wall, pilasters, bond beams,
and lintel beams.
 Because of space limitations, the maximum bar size is usually
limited to no. 10 (30M).
 Bar must be spliced, and smaller bars is usually necessary.

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 Fig. Use of reinforcing bars in grouted construction

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 Joint reinforcement

 Prefabricated wire joint reinforcement is extensively used in

otherwise unreinforced masonry for crack control.
 And in reinforced masonry to satisfy reinforcing requirement
in the horizontal direction.
 Two type of joint reinforcement configuration used in
practice, the ladder and truss are shown in fig.

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 Fig. Continuous joint reinforcement

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 Connectors

 Various type of connector are used in masonry construction.

 It is a general term for ties, anchor, and fasteners.
 A tie is device for connecting two or more wythes or for
connecting a masonry veneer to its structural backup.
 An anchor is refer to a device used to connect masonry wall at
their intersections or to attach wall to their supports.
 Fasteners are device used for securing equipment, fixtures or
parts of connector to buildings.

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 Fig. Connector example showing tie and anchor application

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 Prestressing steel

 Masonry being a compression strong tension weak material,

can benefit from pre-stressing same way as concrete.
 The pre-stressing steel used are the same as in pre-stressed
concrete.

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Department of Applied Mechanics, VNIT NAGPUR
 Corrosion protection

 All type of steel reinforcement used in masonry construction

must be protected against corrosion.
 It is occurs in the presence of oxygen and moisture either by
oxidation or by galvanic action.
 Where the steel reinforcement is fully embedded in dense,
contaminant free grout and which is resistant to corrosion as
steel in concrete.

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 Thank You

Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur

Department of Applied Mechanics, VNIT NAGPUR

 Contact

Dr. Ratnesh Kumar

Department of Applied Mechanics
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur
South Ambazari Nagpur
Maharashtra – 440010
Email: ratnesh.eq@gmail.com
Tele. +91 712 280 1582

Department of Applied Mechanics, VNIT NAGPUR