PN LeswIe lease) SiTbe cepa etsy Materials and Technologies 10122420LOLZ2420 Alternative Building Materials and Technologies 7 REFERENCE BOOKllrightsreserved [No pat ofthis book may be reproduced in any’ frm, by photos, microfilm xcogphy for any other means, or ineorporsted sto any information retrieval system, electron of ‘mechanical, without the writen permission ofthe copyright owner. Branches: + No. 37/10, 8th Cross (Near Hanaman Temple). Azal Nagar, Chamraipet, Bangalore - 560 018 Tel: (080) 2675623, Telelan: 26756820 E-nil: bangalore@newagepublishers com + 26, Domodaran Street, T. Nagar, Chennai - 600 017. Tels (B44) 24353401, Telefax: 24351463, Femil: ehennaicinewvagepublishers.com + CC-39/1016, Carr Station Road, Emakulam South, Cochin - 642 016. 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Joshi Marg, Lower Parl, Mumbai - 400 O13, Tel: (022) 24927869, Telefax: 24915415 mal: mumbaiGanewagepublisher-eom + 22, Golder House, Daryaga 2262368, Teleiax: 43551305, ) 23262370, ern 4 ISBN (13) ; 978-81-224-209 ened nnd nt Sogo "ype Kaj Contes DR, ruBsiNNG oR ONE WoRLD ———" NEW AGH INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, PUBLISHERS {85824 Aro Ren, Dayan Now Deh 10002 i wat mrees Preface CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION 11 12 13 14 16 Energy in Building Materials and Building Environmental Issues Related to Building Materials Global Warming Environment Friendly and Cost Effective Building Technologies Buildings in Different Climatic Regions 2, BUILDING BLOCKS 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Introduction ‘Stones and Laterite Blocks ‘The Burnt Brick Concrete Block : Hollow/Solid Burnt Clay Hollow Blocks Stabilized Mud Blocks (SMB) ‘The Stone Masonry Block Selection of Building Blocks 3, LIME AND LIME-POZZOLANA CEMENTS Bt a2 33 a4 85 Introduction ‘The Raw Materials The Process Properties and Uses Some Practical Aspects w SE SBREBE BE NSSERRE6. tA witi) FIBRE REINFORCED CEMENT COMPOSITES 4a 42 43 44 Introduetion Materials Mechanical Propertios ‘of FRC: Analysis and Behaviour Applications FIBRE REINFORCED POLYMER COMPOSITES 61 52 53 Ba Introduction Materials Manufacturing Processes Applications BUILDING MATERIALS FROM AGRO AND INDUSTRIAL WASTES 61 62 63 64 65 Introduction ‘Typical Agro ‘Wastes and Other Biomass Rerources Chemically Treated Thatch Industrial Wastes Use of Industrial Wastes ALTERNATIVES FOR WALL CONSTRUCTION 7 12 ‘Types of Walls Construction Techniques MASONRY MORTARS BL 82 83 Ba 85 86 Introduetion Cementitious Materials Sand ‘Types of Mortars Properties and Requirements of Mortar Selection of Mortar FERRO-CEMENT AND FERRO-CONCRETE ga 92 Introduction Materials aegeeea 2s £586 aa Bee gaaa RRESSS RB 108, 10910. nu. 2 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 9.10 ro) Construction Methods Durability ‘Mechanical Properties Applications Design Example Ferroconerete Applications Design Example STRUCTURAL MASONRY 10.1 102 103 104 105 106 Introduction : Stresses in Masonry in Compression Factors Influencing Compressive Strength of Masonry Strongth of Masonry in Compression Brick-Mortar Bond Strength Elastic Properties of Masonry Materials and Masonry Design of Masonry Under Vertical Gravity Loads ALTERNATIVE ROOFING SYSTEMS m1 nz us Concepts in Roofing Alternatives Filter Slab Roofs Composite Beam and Panel Roof MASONRY DOMES AND VAULTS wa 122 123 124 125 26 127 Appendie Index Historical Notes Relevance of Vaults and Domes at Present Analysis and Design of Brick masonry Domes Construction of Masonry Domes Design of Brick Masonry Vaults Construction of Masonry Vaults ‘The Problem of Lateral Thrust 113 14 6 u7 120 121 121 131 Mi 2 5 160 160 167 174 194 194 196 17 201 207 aut 216INTRODUCTION po gf IN BUILDING MATERIALS AND BUILDI Mes sill Construction activities of all types involve expenditure of energy in one form or the other. In traditional construction, the source of energy was either animate energy which used the muscle power of human beings and animals or biomass energy which was used as a source of thermal energy. However, after the advent of Industrial Revolution, human society is increasingly dependent on fossil fuels for energy. Modern construction employs significant amounts of energy whether it is thermal energy or energy for transport. It is useful to recognize different categories of energy consumption in a building, and this may be listed as @ Embodied energy in building material (®) Energy consumption during building construction. (©) Energy utilized for maintenance during the life span of a building. (@ Energy spent in demolition of the building at the end of its Aife. ‘The four categories of energies listed here constitute the life cycle energy cost of a building, The energies in (a) and (b) together ‘will constitute the energy embodied in a building. In item (b), one can consider energy spent in transporting materials to site, energy spent in hoisting materials/water and energy spent in concrete mixing, floor polishing ete, Item (c) refers to the energy spent to meet the needs of the occupant of a building. Very often, this is mostly electrical energy. The electrical energy may be used in lighting, air conditioning, ‘water pumping and operation of elevators, In residential buildings, there are other types of energy expenditure. Use of ovens, water heaters, TV and entertainment electronics are the other uses in such ‘buildings. In recent times use of computers represents another source of energy use in buildings.T Aleernatioe Building Mears anal Technologies ‘There is a need to understand the nature of energy utilization in ‘embodied energy and maintenance energy in buildings sine developing, countries like India have limited energy resources vis-a-vis the large population. The embodied energy in typical building materials, in the Indian context are discussed below. 1.1.1 Energy in Building Materials ‘The primary use of energy in building materials is in the production of the building material. For instance, bricks and tiles are produced by burning coal or firewood in kilns, Cement and lime are again produced by heating clay and limestone using coal. Steel is also produced by using coking coal as the fuel. In all these cases, the basic energy use is in the form of thermal: energy. However, many materials also need mechanical processing through electrical energy. For instance, pugging of clay bricks may use electricity. Grinding of raw materials and clinker in the ease of coment needs electricity. ‘Some materials like sand, essentially need transportation energy for procurement at site. In this case, there is no manufacturing energy. Materials like polymers often use petroleum products as feed stock. In this case, the energy content of the feed stock is not available to societal use and must be counted as an energy input to the material. ‘Table 1.1 lists typical building materials and their energy content per unit of measurement (1, 2) Energy in a brick is usually calculated by determining the amount of firewood or coal used for brick burning. In South India, one brick needs 0.25 to 0.30 kg of wood for energy. Assuming an energy value of wood of 15 MJ per kx, we get an energy content in the range of 3.7564.5 Ml ‘The energy in cement depends on the type of process. Earlier factories which were based on wet processing consumed more energy ‘because of the need to evaporate more water, Modern dry process technology consumes less energy. The figure of 5.83 MJ represents an average value Tt must be noted that steel and aluminium consume large amounts of energy. ‘The high energy of aluminium is partly offset by the fact that aluminium has a much lower density than steel. On this basis, ‘aluminium consumes nearly double the energy of steel per unit volume. ‘Although GFRP consumes more energy per kg compared to steel, the rather low density of GFRP makes it more energy efficient especially since the strength of GFRP often exceeds that of steel.‘Table 1.1 Energy in Building Materials ‘Material Unit | Energy per ‘Type of unit, MJ Energy Burnt brick | One brick | 8.75-4.5 | Coal/Wood/Rice Husk Cement 1 kg 5.85 CoalBlectricity Lime ake 5.63 CaalWood Lime+Fly Ash akg 233 CoalWood Steel 1 kg 42.0 Coal+lectrcity Aluminium Lhe 236.8 Blectricity Glass 1k 25.83 ‘i Sand (Bangalore) | 1 cum 206 Diesel Marble (Rajasthan to Bangalore) | 1 sq.m 200 Diesel Polyester 1 litre 220 | Peteolevim+Hleetricity GrRP ke 100 | Petroleum+Electrcity Mangulore Tile | 1 tile 5.0-15.0 Firewood/Coal ‘The significant energy reduction in lime fly ash mixture (lime - pozzolana cement) must be noted, Such alternatives are helpful in reducing energy costs of materials. 1.1.2 Energy in Building Blocks Building blocks used for wall construction constitute a significant component of embodied energy in a building. ‘This is due to the fact that walls represent the largest volume component in a building. ‘Table 1.2 lists the energy in various building blocks as discussed by Reddy and Jagadish (3). In this table, the Stabilized Mud Block (SMB) is produced by pressing a mixture of soil, sand and cement in a machine. The ‘example cited in Table 1.2 uses 6% cement stabilization. The Hollow Conerete Block had 7% cement in the mixture. The steam cured block ig made by pressing lime, soil and fly ash mixture and curing in a steam chamber. Lime percentage is 10% of soil and fly ash. The table Clearly shows the energy advantage of block items 3, 4 and 5. 1.1.3 Energy in Buildings ‘The total embodied energy in a building depends on the type of technologies used. Table 1.3 provides a comparison of four different building technologies and the total embodied energy in the building. ‘The results of such a calculation is presented per 100 m* of plinth area of the building.‘Table 1.2 Energy in Building Blocks SLNo.| ‘Type of | ‘Typical | Energy | Energy | Block Block size, per per | energy mm | block mm | block | brick [Brick ‘MJ | equivalent | energy Md % 1 | Size stone | 180x180x180 | 0 0 0 2 | Burnt Brick) 230x105%70 | 4.25 425 100 3 | Stabilizea | 280x190x100 | 2.60 1.00 23.5 Mud Block 4 | Hollow | 400x200x200 | 12.30 1a2 312 Concrete Block 5 | Steam — | 280x190x100 | 6.7 2.58 60.8 Cured Block ‘The table shows the high energy content of a high rise building. Load bearing masonry has less energy and use of Stabilized Mud Blocks (SMB) is especially energy efficient. ‘Table 1.3 Total Embodied Energy in a Building ‘Type of building No. of | Total Embodied | Equivalent storeys | energy per | Coal for 100m? GJ | 100m?,T RC framed construction 8 421 aa with brick in-fill walls Load bearing brick walls, 2 292 15 RC roof, mosaic floor SMB walls, Filler slab 2 161 8 roofifloor, terracotta floor SMB walls, Reinforced tile | 1 93, 47 ‘work roof, cement floor ‘The production of building materials often leads to two types of environmental/health related problems. Firstly, a particular building ‘material can lead to a local environmental impact either in the form of pollution/health hazard or in the depletion of natural resources, Secondly, building materials production using fossil fuel energies canes eause global environmental problems like global warming. There is a need to mitigate these two kinds of environmental problems. Typical problems are discussed below. 1. Stone Stone, especially granite, is extensively used in building ‘construction, Size stone is often used for foundations and walls. Crushed stone aggregate is widely used for concrete manufacture. Considerable amount of fine granite dust is generated at the site of stone extraction whether it is manual shaping of stone or mechanized crushing. The stone workers often inhale the fine dust and succumb to silicosis or tuberculosis after several years of such work. The entrepreneurs involved in stone processing seem to have no concern for the health of the workers involved in such activities. There is a need to educate the workers and employers about the dangers of stone dust and develop suitable filters such that inhalation of the fine dust can be avoided. 2. Top soll for Brick ‘The top soil is often used for brick making, especially in the Indogangetic plains. It is well known that the top soil is a rich source of nutrients for trees and crops and this nutrient base is depleted by large scale brick manufacture near metropolitan cities like Delhi. The Jandscape is also destroyed by unorganized creation of pits which can render the land useless for agriculture or other non-agricultural uses. Careful planning, by retaining the top soil while taking out the soil in the lower zones or by creating natural water bodies, can largely mitigate this problem, In South India, the problem is less acute since there are a large number of irrigation tanks which contain enormous quantities of silt. A small fraction of this silt can provide all the bricks for building construction. 3, Pollution by Marble Dust ‘The marble processing industry in Rajasthan produces large quantities of fine marble dust which can affect the usability of agricultural land. The marble dust can be used as a resource in number of ways, ‘a. Additive to cement to make masonry cement. b. Source of calcium carbonate for lime/cement industry. c. Building products like Stabilized Mud Blocks, marble dust + resin for wash basin. 4, Mangalore Tile The extensive use of firewood for making Mangalore tiles in Coastal India has led to a deforestation in the Coastal regions. It is possible to(6 Allerntive Bullding Materials ond Technologies ‘use natural gas or coal for tile burning. Use of imported fossil fuels is the only way to save the forest tracts in these parts. Development of other alternatives to tiles is also desirable to avoid deforestation as well as fossil fuel burning. 5, The Question of Timber Good quality timber is in short supply in India. Very often, timber ‘imported from Malaysia and Australia is used in building construction. ‘Some organizations like the CPWD have a tendency to ban the use of imber since excessive demand for timber can lead to massive deforestation. Many a time, attempts are made to replace timber by concrete or ferrocement. This is perhaps a good short term strategy. However, in the long run this approach ean be counter productive. It is necessary to recognize that timber is a material which is totally based on Solar Energy while coment based materials depend on fossil fuels. Cement based materials cause depletion of fossil fuels and excessive carbon emissions leading to global warming. Use of timber also alleviates global warming since the carbon in timber is stored for fa long period. Thus, timber is a very environment friendly material, provided it can be procured without disturbing natural forests ‘The question before the Civil Engineer is to examine the possibility of growing timber in non-forest lands in an ceologieally sound manner. There is a need to avoid ‘plantation’ type of eoncepts wherein a single species is planted in monoculture over large tracts of land. Again, growing timber is a long drawn out process and cannot be pursued by fa corporate, profit oriented approach. The land requirement for such programmes may not be large. However, the political will and ecological sensitivity needed to pursue such programmes may not be available in our Society at present. ‘There is also a tendency to think only in terms of growing teak wood. There are a whole range of good quality. timbers available in this country, other than teak wood. There is a need for concerted efforts by Foresters and Civil Engineers to grow all the available timber species. ‘Time horizon for such programmes may range between 30 to 40 years. The environmental benefits of such progrmames can be immense. 13 JAL' WARMING © ‘The utilization of fossil fuels like coal and petroleum has been increasing steadily for more than 200 years after the invention of the ‘Steam Engine and [.C. Engines, The earbon-di-oxide in the atmosphere whieh was about 280 ppm at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, hhas now reached levels like 354 ppm (4). There has been an explosive Bgrowth of research on Global Warming due to carbon-di-oxide emissions and other gases released by the Industry. While the opinion is divided, many scientists believe that Global Warming has arrived due to excessive burning of fossil fuels and the removal of carbon sinks by deforestation, "The Kyoto Protocol has been agreed to by several countries across the globe to reduce consumption of fossil fuels over the coming decades. However, the efforts in this direction are halting, especially since the biggest consumer like the U.S.A. is unwilling to reduce its contribution to carbon emissions. Populus countries like India and China are also emerging as major consumers of fossil fuels although their per capita energy consumption is below the levels in Western Countries. Further Industrialization of these countries will certainly add to the Global ‘Warming unless new low energy strategies are developed. ‘The importance of buildings in the energy scenario can be ‘understood by the fact that in the European Union 40% of the total energy consumption is accounted for by buildings sector (5, 6). The buildings also contribute 30% of the total CO, emission in EU, This shows that development is invariably associated with high impact on the Global Environment. It is hence essential to explore ‘Energy Efficient Building Alternatives’. Here again, two categories of energy efficiency need to be recognized. Firstly, the embodied energy in a building needs to be reduced. Secondly, the energy used during the ‘operational life of a building should also be reduced. Connaughton (7) reports that 10% of the Industrial energy consumption in UK goes to building materials production while 56% of the energy is used in the maintenance of the building. This shows that a building consumes far moro’ energy during its life time than what is spent during its construction. In a typical calculation (7) the energy used by a low tise flat in UK over 25 years is about 12 GJ/m? while the energy ‘content of the building is only about 4 GJ/m?. In another calculation in the Indian context (2), a 2-storeyed brick and RC building consumed 2.65 Gum? during its construction, while it consumed 5.83 GJ/m2 ‘over a 25 year period. Countries like India have riot yet reached the levels of a developed country like UK in energy consumption. However, recent trends in air conditioning buildings in India can exacerbate the situation since most of the buildings are poorly insulated and guzzle lot of energy to maintain thermal comfort. Use of Solar Passive Cooling concepts and improved thermal insulation fare needed to mitigate these problems. A brick vaulted building with simple Solar Passive Cooling concepts was built in a village near Bangalore (8) which showed significant improvements in indoor climate with marginal cost: inputs.8 Allernattie Building Materials and Technologies g ‘The ‘Table 1.3 also clearly shows that RC frame constructions have more embodied energy than masonry buildings. It is perfectly feasible to build 4 to 6 storeyed masonry buildings using bricks/blocks with strengths in the range of 8.0 to 20.0 MPa. Hollow-Concrete Blocks or Stabilized Mud Blocks of 8.0 MPa strength can be easily obtained with technologies available in India. Wire cut bricks with strengths of 20.0 MPa are also available, Thus a switch over to masonry of moderate rise (4 to 6 storeys) can save 30.0 to 40% of the embodied energy. It must also be pointed out that the use of Steel Framed Construction, which is common in the West, will consume more energy than an RC Framed building for comparable heights. 1.4 ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY AND COST EFFECTIVE 1.4.1 Role of Transportation in Buildings ‘Transportation of building materials to the construction site contributes to the cost and embodied energy of a building. Greater the distance of transportation, greater is the consumption of energy and ‘money. Over the years, a variety of transport vehicles are now available in India, often tempting the user to procure materials from greater distances. Figure 1.1 shows the influence of distance and mode of transport (9, 10) on the cost of transporting 1 cu.m of soil. The figure also shows how the changing cost of energy is escalating the transport cost. Thus, a traditional transport mode like the bullock cart is becoming obsolete in recent times as it cannot compete with fossil fuel based transportation. This figure also brings home the point that procuring building materials at short distances (local materials) becomes important for saving energy and costs. In case a particular material is not available at short distances, it is useful to explore alternative techniques to perform similar tasks. ‘As an example, one can explore the issue of sand for building mortars. The City of Bangalore has exhausted nearby sources of sand and it has to be imported from distances of more than 100 km. Extraction of sand from remote villages is also leading to rapid deterioration of roads and erosion of river banks due to loss of protective sand cover. In this context, if sandy soils are available locally, stabilization of the soil by lime and cement can easily produce a mortar with a short term strength of 2.0 MPa. Such a mortar will acquire strength of the order 3.0 MPa after about an year's time. This could then be local, cost and energy efficient alternative to sand based mortars. Alternatively, local sandy soils can be washed to produce sand provided a water resource is available (water can be recycled).sopour yuaxoyrp uy ys00 uopmodsueay =11 BL ‘opus v uss on aah ‘seed u au o9ro sod uodsueH 108 7 80D on1.4.2 Efficient Foundations and Walls Use of stones (size stones or random rubble) is quite common in South India for foundations of walls. However, the modern practice of using cement mortar makes the foundation rather expensive. ‘Traditionally, two storeyed buildings have been built on stone-in-mud mortar foundations. The stress levels in the foundation are generally so low that even mud-mortars should suffice. Use of soil-cement or soil-lime-cement as mortars should prove to be a cost effective alternative. Use of arched foundations is also a cost-effective alternative. ‘Wall construction can be cost effective, ifthe finish of the masonry _unit is s0 good as to eliminate plastering, Good quality Stabilized Mud Block (SMB) or Hollow Conerete Block (HOB) can lead to such walling solutions. Use of cement-soil-sand mortars is also cost effective compared to cement-mortar without sacrificing masonry strength or durability. There is often a tendeney to reduce the thickness of the wall, especially in framed structures, to achieve cost reduction. It must be noted that a wall thickness which is less than 225 mm can lead to penetration of heat, especially from Bast and West facing walls. The marginal reduction in cost is then accompanied by significant thermal discomfort in the interior. Increased use of fans and coolers will also lead to greater energy consumption throughout the life of the building. 1.43 Cost and Energy Efficient Roofing Systems ‘A number of efficient roofing alternatives ean be considered. Use of partial or complete prefabricationy can lead to efficient use of materials. This will also permit combination of two or three different. materials for cost and energy economy. For instanee, in a Jack Arch Roofing, expensive conerete is partially replaced by brick masonry. Use of filler slabs, where the tension zone conerete is partly replaced by SMB or brick is also cost and energy efficient, Use of brick domes and vaults can lead to roofing systems which reduce penetration of solar heat into the building. Openings at the crown will facilitate air movement. Reduction in the steel used facilitates reduetion in the embodied energy as well 1.5 BUILDINGS IN DIFFERENT CLIMATIC REGIONS The Indian subeontinent’has widely varied climatic conditions, Some of the major categories of climate. may be listed as : (@) Hot Summer and Cold Winter () Hot Summer and Moderate Winter(©) Hot and Humid (@) Moderate Summer and Cold Winter (©) Cool Summer and Very Cold Winter. ‘The choice of building technologies/materials depends on the dlimatic context. For instanee, eategory (a) occurs in most of North India and the buildings should use cooling techniques in Summer while retaining the heat in Winter. Well insulated buildings are needed here. In the ease of Hot and Humid environment, air circulation becomes important to eliminate the discomfort due to humidity, In situations like (e) where the Winter is very Cold (like in Ladakh and Sub-Himalayan Regions), use of Winter heating using Solar Energy becomes important. Concepts like “Trombe Walls’ which use double glazing on the Southern Walls to capture Solar Heat are useful. SAMPLE QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 1. What alternatives would your suggest if sand for mortar becomes ‘very expensive or is not available. A granite crushing unit for ‘aggregate and a tank bed with lot of silt are locally present. 2, Suggast low energy alternatives to Burnt brick. Calculate the energy in RC roof per sq.m. Considering (a) One-way slab of span 3.0 m (6) Two way slab of room: 4.0m x 5.0m 4. Caleulate the energy in a filler slab roof (1 way-3.0m) per sq.m, assuming that 7,5 SMB's of size 280 x 190 x 75 were used to replace tension concrete in 1 sq.m of roof, There is no change in the ‘amount of steel used. 5. A Mangalore tiled roof is used to span a room of size 3.0m x 6.0m. ‘The woof slope is 20° and assuming wall thickness of 23 ems and ‘roof overhang of 30 ems at both ends of the slope. Caleulate the fenergy in the roof per sq.m. Assume energy in one Mangalore tile = 15.0 MS REFERENCES 1. KS. JAGADISH, Energy Efficient Building Materials and ‘Techno- logies Workshop on Solar Passive Architecture. Kamataka State Couneil for Science and ‘Technology, Bangalore, 23-25 Jan. 1996, 2. KS. JAGADISH, Energy, Environment and Buildings. Plenary Lecture, Conf. on Materials (CONMAT) 2003, Kharagpur, Jan. 9- 11, 2003. 3. BV. VENKATARAMA REDDY and KS. JAGADISH, Embodied energy of common and alternative building materials and technologies. Energy and Buildings, Vol. 35, 2003, pp. 129-137,2 ae 10. ANITA GORDON and DAVID SUZUKI, It is a Matter of Survival Harper Collins, 1990. MARTIN VONKA, Environment Impact Assessment of the Residential Buildings and the Multicriterion Approach, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Dept. of Building Structures, Czech Republic, 2003, CIB Report, Agenda 21 on Sustainable Construction, Publication 237. JIN. CONNAUGHTON, Real Low Energy Buildings: The energy cost of materials. Chapter 7, Energy Efficient Buildings; Ed. Susan Roof and Mary Hancock, Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, 1992. KS. JAGADISH, Brick Vaulted Buildings for Solar Passive Cooling, Report for Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Resources, March 2001, Dept. of Civil Engg., Indian Institute of Science. KS. JAGADISH, Energy and Rural Buildings in India, Energy and Buildings, 2, 1979, KS. JAGADISH, Building Alternatives for Housing. Lecture Notes (on Alternative Building, Dept. of Civil Engg., Indian Institute of Science, 1997.| | BUILDING BLOCKS Walls of buildings are, most often, constructed using masonry. Masonry may be defined as a wall element made by holding strong blocks together with the help of a mortar. The ‘blocks’ are usually ‘strong in compression. Such blocks may also be referred to as masonry ‘units. A wide variety of materials have been used for masonry. Use of sun dried mud, stone and burnt brick have been known since ancient, times, Laterite has also been used for wall construction in specific locations where it is available, New materials have emerged in recent times for use as masonry units. Conerete block, Hollow burnt clay block, Stabilized mud block and stone masonry block are some of the new alternatives. The various materials and their characteristics are discussed in the following, wall construction. They are igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic stonos, Granite and Basalt are examples of igneous stones. Limestone and sandstone are examples of sedimentary stones. Gneiss and Marble are examples of metamorphic stones used in building construction. As a rule, all stones have a good compressive strength which is often more than adequate for wall construction. Granite, Gneiss, basalt and sandstone are the usual stones. Table 2.1 presents typical strength of different types of stones as reported by different sources. Tt can be seen that granite often shows the highest strengths. Fine grained stones are stronger than coarse grained stones. In the case of a metamorphic rock like gneiss, loading perpendicular to the grains! foliation shows lower strength. Granite is also known for its durability. ‘Sandstone and Basalt are less durable although they do not deteriorate in time spans of the order a couple of centuries, For instance, sandstone 13temples built in Aihole and Pattadakal in 6th and 8th centuries show signs of erosion, Again, basalt used in Gol Gumbaz and Ibrahim Reuza in Bijapur in the 16th century is showing considerable deterioration. However, these stones may be considered alright for normal buildings where a life span of more than 200 years is not expected. Laterite, which is found in the coastal districts of Karnataka, is an interesting building material. It is soft when excavated but hardens, on drying and the hardening is irreversible. It has been used for centuries. Bidar district, which has pockets cf Laterite, shows that Laterite is quite durable, since it has been used extensively in Bidar fort. Laterita, however, is nat a very strong material. An earlier study by Conerete and Soil Research Laboratory, Chennai (1) showed that Kozhikode laterite gave an average strength of 1.7 MPa. A more recent study by Arunkumar Bhat et al. (2) gave a compressive strength tn the range of 1.04 to 347 MPa. Out of 13 locations studied, 11 locations showed strength below 2.5 MPa. Laterite blocks from Calicut, testid by Ganesan, however gave an average compressive strength of 3.8 MPa (3). These studies show that laterite strength can be sometimes, ‘much lower than what is specified by BIS Code of practice which says that the average strength rnust be 3.5 MPa. However, when laterite blocks of thickness of more thar. 190 mm is used, it is possible to use blocks of strength 2.0-2.5 MP». It is desirable to avoid blocks of strength ‘much lower than 2.0 MPa. ‘Table 2.1 Compressive Strengths of Stones ‘Type | Bombay PW.D | Source of ‘Sarangapani & ‘Hand Book | Information ‘Sajid; Vem ‘MPa 18 7779:1996 | Madhava Rao ‘Stones of MPa i Karnataka MPa Granite 140-265 65-228 30-75, Gneiss 95-178 70-180 Parallel to 22-105 Foliation Normal to Foliation 22-86 Dolerite - 53 Limestone a7 70-100 Sandstone 34-38 60-150 Basalt 40.50 80-160 Doleritic 100 - Basalt Quartait 100-145‘Three types of burnt bricks may be mentioned in today’s Indian context: namely the country brick, the table moulded brick and the ‘wire cut brick. Country bricks are made using a simple four sided ‘mould. These bricks are moulded by the ‘soft mud’ process where soil has a high moisture content facilitating easier pressing. The moulding is done on level ground and the wet brick is left on the ground to dry. ‘After drying the bricks are stacked in a clamp and burnt using firewood cr paddy husk. In the case of table moulded bricks, a five sided mould is used to “shape a relatively stiffer mud into a brick. The use of lesser moisture ‘at the time of moulding leads to an improved shape and strength for the brick. The wet brick is released by turning the mould upside down on a level platform. These bricks generally have a ‘frog’ on one of the bedding faces. These bricks are then dried in shade and then burnt in f continuous kiln known as the ‘Bull's Trench Kiln’. However, this Kiln requires large area of land and capital cost and hence a new simpler kiln has been developed in recent years. This may be called ‘asa clamp kiln which consists of three parallel walls forming two burning chambers, The table moulded brick is generally much stronger than the country brick. Strengths ranging from 3.5 MPa to 7.0 MPa is quite common for such bricks. Recently, a new type of mould was developed at ASTRA and Department of Civil Engineering for the table moulded brick. In this case, the mould has four sides with a removable plate in the position of the fifth side. The plate sits at the bottom of the mould but cannot be taken out through the bottom because of stoppers in the corners. After moulding the brick, the mould may be turned upside down on. platform and it may be taken out while, pressing on the removable plate. The plate remains on the wet brick to be taken out subsequently. ‘This mould has been tested recently and lead to bricks of strength 4.5, MPa, Figure 2.1 is a sketch of the newly designed mould. ‘The wire cut brick is produced by a more mechanized operation. ‘The selected soil is pugged adequately and then extruded into a continuous slab of clay. This slab is then sliced by a wire frame into ‘a number of bricks. After drying, the bricks are burnt in a Hoffmann’s Kiln. A good wire cut brick retains a good shape and often has strengths in tho range of 10.0 MPa to 20.0 MPa. It is also a very expensive brick ‘and is not used as widely as the table moulded brick. It must be pointed out that a wire cut brick of 10.0 MPa strength can be ‘conveniently used for load bearing masonry going upto 5 storeys without using RC frames, This can be quite cost effective compared to framed construction,Fig. 2.1: Improved Brick Mould ‘Table 2.2 shows the compressive strength and stiffness properties of bricks from different parts of India. The results refer to table ‘moulded bricks. It is interesting to note that the strength of bricks varies from a rather low value of 2.5 MPa to 19.2 MPa. In general bricks in North India have higher strength than the bricks in South India. The strength of bricks in South India is generally below 10.0 MPa, The North Indian bricks have strength ranging from 10.0 MPa to 20.0 MPa. It is also useful to note that the Modulus of Elasticity of South Indian bricks is also quite low and range between 300 MPa to 1000 MPa. The North Indian brieks on the other hand have a much higher modulus ranging from 2000 MPa to 16,000 MPa. The characteristic of wire cut bricks, however, is somewhat different. The wire cut brick, even in South India has strength in the range of 10.0 to 20.0 MPa and an elastic modulus of around 3000 MPa. ‘The above results were obtained by the researches carried out by Sarangapani (4), Raghunath (5) and Gumaste (6). ‘The concrete block has been in use in this country for nearly 3 decades. Concrete offers a flexibility in production which is not there in brick manufacture. Brick manufacture comes to a grinding halt during the monsoon while concrete block making can be carried out throughout the year. The investment needed by way of land and capital is much less for eonerete block manufacture compared to brick making.Table 2.2 Strength and Ela ticity of Bricks in India State | Location | Moisture [Compressive | Modulus ‘Absor- | Strength | of elasticity| ption ‘MPa —_| in compre- % ssion Initial] tangent MPa YT [Karnataka | Bangalore | ~10.1 67 1027 2 |Karnataka | Bangalore | 11.7 56 461 3 |Karnataka | Harihar 15.9 48 149 4 | Maharashtra | Sangli 26.0 25 957 5 | Maharashtra) Pune 22.0 52 550 6 [Gujarat | Surat 220 36 = 7 Ahmedabad | 15.2 43 ams 8 Vijayawada | 118 33 329 9 Vizag 10.1 68 562 Jaipur 125 a4 2355 Patna 12.0 - 16046 Jammu 16.0 ud 3009 3 | Tamil Nadu | Chennai 126 18 7 4 |Tamil Nadu | South Arcot | 14.0 as “ 5 | Kerala Calicut = 13 ~ 6 | Uttara Kanpur “ 19.2 “A Pradesh, 7 | Uttaranchal | Roorkee 13.9 18.2 4200 8 | West Bengal | Kolkata - 43 8900 ng | Assam Gauhati 14.0 18 - ‘Ambalavannan et al. (7) obtained strengths and elastic moduli for hollow conerete blocks using different proportions and cement, river sand and coarse aggregate. They reported a compressive strength in the range of 2.8-5.4 MPa for blocks of size 390x200x190 mm. The blocks had a bulk density of around 1300 kg/m*. ‘The concrete blocks sold commercially in the market, however, do not have such carefully selected constituents. Reddy (8) carried out tests on commercially available hollow concrete blocks of Bangalore and the strengths are shown in Table 2.3. These strengths are decidedly lower than the strengths reported by Ambalavannan et al. This may"A Acie Big Maric a Technologies ‘be attributed to the fact that commercial manufacturers make generous use of quarry dust for the blocks which often contains significant amounts of silt like fines, The presence of excessive fines and use of low percentage of cement often leads to lower strengths. The B.LS. prescribes a minimum ‘strength of 2.0 MPa for conerete blocks. The table shows that the blocks available in the market have just the adequate strength while one sample has a lower strength. The hollow concrete block can be deceptive in that it may Jook good but can have jow strengths. It must always be carefully evaluated for strength before using it in load bearing masonry. ‘Table 2.3 Strength of Hollow Concrete Blocks : Bangalore [SL No. | Block Size, mms | Compressive Strength MPa | a 400 x 200 x 200 2.20 2 400 200 200 2.83 3 895 100 198 20 400 x 200 % 150 sa 5 400 x 200 x 160 2.68 It must also be mentioned that there are factories in big cities which manufacture good quality blocks using carefully selected materials and a controlled process. One such sample in Bangalore igave a compressive strength of 74MPa at a coefficient of variation of 6.12, Such blocks, which may fetch a better price than the ran-of-the- mill concrete block, can be easily used for load bearing masonry probably joing up to 4 storeys. Such a use of hollow concrete block can be quite fost effective. The lower bulk density of hollow eoncrete block is a distinet advantage in the construction of 8 to 4 storeys, ‘The use of solid concrete block is also common. The Rajasthan ‘Avas Vikas Sansthan has come up with a simple machine to make solid concrete blocks. It is relatively easy to achieve desirable strength like 4.0 to 5.0 MPa with a solid concrete block. However, the density of such blocks will not be low and may not be suited for more than two storeyed construction. ‘These are burnt high elay’ blocks made by a process of extrusion ‘The wall thickness of the hollow block is often as low as 1.5 to 2.0 ‘cms. They come in various sizes and Figure 2.2 shows a typical hollow clay block.Fig. 2.2: Hollow Clay Block Reddy (9) tested a number of such blocks. Some of the blocks were loaded parallel to the direction of holes and others were tested with loading perpendicular to the holes. Table 2.4 gives some typical strengths. The results represent the average strength of three samples. Table 2.4 Strength of Hollow Clay Blocks Source Size Direction | Height of | Compressive of block mms of loading |specimen | Strength mms MPa Kerala | 292 x 1465 x 148] Parallel to 148 9.91 holes Mangalore| 310 x 160 x 200 | Perpendicular] 160 1.45 to holes Kerala | 395 x 148 x 200 | Perpendicular} 200 um to holes Kerala | 395 x 148 x 200 | Perpendicular] 200 2.88 to holes ‘Tumkur | 305 x 205 x 150 | Parallel to 305 8.72 holes ‘Tumkur | 305 x 205 x 150 | Parallel to 305 11.00 holes Tumkor | 805 x 205 x 150 | Perpendicular to holes 150 4.38 It can be seen that these blocks give a relatively high strength when tested with load parallel to the holes. When the blocks are laid with the holes aligned horizontally the strength is substantially less.120. Alternative Building Materials and Technologies ‘There is often a tendency among architects to use the blocks with the holes horizontal and such walls will not have the strength to carry the first floor loads! These blocks usually have bulk densities in the range of 950.0 kg/m? to 1200 p/m’ It is interesting to note that these blocks have a rather favourable weight/strength ratio. They can be quite useful in planning a building with several storeys since the dead weight can be kept low. They also offer possibilities of improved thermal comfort when the wall thickness is 200 mm or more and then external walls are painted white (or some light colour), The only deterrent to their use is their high cost. They will probably prove useful at places close to the factories manufacturing them. ‘The technology of stabilized soils for wall construction has been known in India for more than 5 decades. The R & D programme at the Department of Civil Engineering and ASTRA at the Indian Institute of Science since 1975 has lead to a maturing of the stabilized mud block technology. Today, there are probably more than 15,000 buildings and houses in about 8 States of India using the SMB technology for walls. The details of this new technology are discussed below. 26.1 The Concept It is now well known that when soils are compacted using external energy, the density of the soil reaches a maximum value at a moisture content known as the optimum moisture content (OMC). The value of OMC and the maximum density depends on the energy input during ‘compaction. It is also easy to recognize that the compressive strength of the soil, in the dry state, depends on the density. Thus the process ‘of mechanical compaction can lead to densification and strengthening of the soil. If now the soil can also be stabilized against loss of strength during saturation, we can think of a stabilized mud (soil) block where the stabilization is achieved by a combination of densification and mixing of a stabilizing additive. A variety of materials can be used for stabilization namely: cement, lime and bitumen. 2.6.2 The Raw Materials Soil, consisting of clay, silt and sand is the basic raw material. It is preferable that the clay should be non-expansive, although expansive clays can also be stabilized using a somewhat more complex procedure. In general soils containing 10 to 15% clay and 65.0 to 70.0% sand are satisfactory for making cement stabilized mud blocks. Cement may be added to the tune of 6.0 to 8.0%, by weight of the appropriate soil. In case the soil has a high clay content, sand or a sandy additive likequarry dust may be added to correct the grading of the soil. A combination of cement and lime can be used. For non-expansive soil and with clay content around 15% a cement proportion of 5% and lime proportion 2% can be added for stabilization, Lime has the advantage of combining with the clay in the soil and enhancing the long term durability and strength. Details of soil characteristics for SMB are discussed by Reddy (10), Reddy and Jagadish (11) and Reddy and Gupta ay, 2.6.3 The Process The entire process of making a stabilized mud block may be summarized as under. (@) Sieve the soil in a 4 mm sieve to remove stones and lumps of clay. () Mix sand or quarry dust to correct the clay-sand percentages in the soil, (©) Add.cement or cement and lime in appropriate proportions ‘and mix thoroughly in the dry condition. (@) Sprinkle moisture onto the mixture and further mix ‘thoroughly till the mixture is homogeneous, Test for optimum moisture by trying to make a ball of soil in the hand. If a ball can be made without the soil sticking to the hand the moisture content is right. Fig. 2.3: The Radium Press.© @) w Weigh the correct amount of moist soil such that a fresh block density of 2.05 gmuce ean be achieved. The weight depends on ‘the volume of the finished block. In case the soil contains to ‘much sand and silt a density of 2.05 glee may not be feasible Densities like 2.0 sgn/ee or 1.95 gm/cc may be attempted. ‘The weighed soil is now poured into a soil compaction press like the Mardini (Figure 2.3). closing the lid. The lid may then be opened and the block: ejected by again using the lever, Figures 24, 2.5 and 24 show the sequences of the three operations. ‘The ejected block is then stacked in a five or six block high. for curing Figure 2.7). (i) Sprinkling of moisture may be pursued upto.21 days complete the block making process. Fig. 2.5: Compaction of BlockFig. 2.7: Stacking of Fresh Blocks 2.6.4 Typical Block Sizes In general, it is desirable to have a block size, which is somewhat larger than the size of a brick to achieve economy in the production of the material. Usual sizes are 230 x 190 x 100 mm or 305 x 143 x 100 mm, Blocks of thickness less than 100 mm can be easily made, if necessary, by introducing thicker plates inside the mould. A half block size of 230 x 108 x 100 mm is also sometimes useful for corner joint, door and window jambs, partition walls and so on. With the 230x 190 x 100 mm block one can build a wall with headers only (thickness 230 mm) or a wall with stretchers only (thickness 190 mm). 2.6.5 Influence of Density and Cement Content on Block Strength Density and the proportion of cement added are two important parameters, which control the strength and durability of stabilized mud blocks. Figure 2.8 shows the wet compressive strength of stabilized mud block as a function of its dry density. The figure shows that the strength is very sensitive to the dry density. As the dry density increases from 1.75 gm/ec to 1.9 gmlce the strength increases from 1.0 MPa to 2.0 MPa, Thus, a 9% increase in dry density leads to a doubling of the compressive strength. In practice, it is desirable to achieve a dry density of atleast 1.85 gm/cc. Table 2.5 shows the influence of cement content on the strength of stabilized mud block eubes of size 76 mm. ‘The soil had a sand content of 65% and a clay content of 17%. As the cement percentage is increased from 5% to 7.5%, the wet strength increases by about 60%. A cement content of 6.0 to 7.0% is normally advisable for building two storeyed houses. 25) ask Wet compressive strength (MPa) os L L L wae 1 1 a8 Diy density (avec) Fig. 2.8: Effect of Density on StrengthFig. 2.9: Building using SHB. 2.6.6 Strength of Blocks ‘The SMB technology is well suited to produce a range of block strengths at the site. As a rule a minimum wet compressive strength of 3.0 MPa is desirable for two storeyed house construction. A cement percentage of 6 to 7% and a sand content of 65% and a clay content of 15% is usually sufficient to achieve a minimum strength of 3.0 MPa. ‘Using higher percentages of cement, wet compressive strength in the range of 4.0 to 7.0 MPa can be easily achieved. A block with 7.0 MPa strength can be comfortably recommended for four storeyed load bearing masonry. Figure 2.9 shows a typical building with exposed SMB masonry. ‘Table 2.5 Influence of Cement Content on Compressive Strength Soil Composition; Sand: 65%; Silt: 18%; Clay:17% 2 76 mm x 76 mm x 76 mm = a | coi A es =m25. Allernailive Building Materials and Technologios 2.6.7 The Dissemination of SMB Technology ‘This technology is now well demonstrated in several states of India, namely, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Orissa, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Figure 2.10 shows the spread of the technology in various states of India. The Mardini press, developed at the Indian Institute of Science, has been exported to Afghanistan, Sti Lanka, Malawi and Indonesia, \ 2 <10 i; 3 10-100 { © 100-1000 é © 1000-2000 . BB 2000-10,000 No. ot Users Fig. 2.10: Spread of SMB Technology in India (1976-2005) [2.7 THE STONE MASONRY BLOCK ‘The Central Building Rescarch Institute, Roorkee, developed this technology in the seventies. The BIS specification IS: 12440 gives details of the technique. It is a very simple technology involving using ‘odd sized stones, which are shaped by a layer of concrete surroundingBuilding Blocks the stone, Steel moulds resting on level ground can be used to place the odd shaped stone in the centre of the mould. Lean concrete is now poured in the space between the stone and the mould. Block sizes of 300 % 200 x 150 mm and 300 x 150 x 150 mm are quite common. compressive strength in the range of 5.0 to 10.0 MPa can be easily achieved. This technology has been implemented in a large number of locations in readily available. 2.8 SELECTION OF BUILDING BLOCKS : ‘The selection of a suitable building block in any location will depend on the following requirements, (a) Local availability of the building material, (@) Strength and Performance requirements for the building in question. (©) Cost considerations. In general, it is desirable to procure the building block at as short a distance as is feasible, Procurement from a location, which is hundreds of kilometers away, will often lead to expensive wall construction. For instance, procuring hollow clay blocks from Kerala for building in Bangalore will lead to significant transport costs. It is ideal if the building block can be obtained at distances less than 30 kms. Stone as a wall building material is also feasible if it is locally available. ‘Transporting stone can be very expensive, especially because of the density of stone, Bricks or Stabilized Mud Blocks which depend on soil as a recource will generally be feasible in most locations since soils are more abundant than stones in nature, REFERENCES 1. Conerete and Soil Research Laboratory, PW.D., Government of Madras, Annual Report, 1953, p.126. 2 ARUN KUMAR BHAT et al. Study of Laterite Blocks in and ‘around Karkala Taluk, Dept. of Civil Engz, NMAM Institute of ‘Technology, Nitte, 1996, 8. _N. GANESAN, Private Communication, 2004. SARANGAPANI, Studies on the Strength of Brick Masonry,PhD thesis, Dept. of Civil Engg, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 1560 012, May 1998. 5, S.RAGHUNATH, Static and Dynamic Behaviour of Brick Masonry ‘with Containment Reinforcement, PhD thesis, Dept of Civil Engg., Tndian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, Jan, 2003. 6. KS. GUMASTE, Studies on Strength and Elasticity of Brick Masonry Walls, Ph.D thesis, Dept of Civil Engg,, Indian Institute fof Science, Bangalore 560 012, Jan. 2004.7. 10, uu. 12, 13 4 AMBALAVANNAN, R., P. KALYANASUNDARAM and TP. GANESAN, Modulus of Elasticity of Hollow Blocks made with lean conerete mixes, 4th Int. Seminar on Structural Masonry for Developing Countries, 14-17 Dec, 1992, Madras, BY. VENKATARAMA REDDY, Private Communication, Jan, 2004, BN. VENKATARAMA REDDY, Private Communication, Dec. 2004 BN. VENKATARAMA REDDY, Studies on Soil Compaction and ‘Compacted Soil-Cement Blocks for Walls, PhD thesis, Dept. of Civil Engg,, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, 1991. BY. VENKATARAMA REDDY and KS. JAGADISH, Influence of Soil Composition on the Strength and Durability of Soil-Cement Blocks, Indian Conerete Journal, September 1995. BY, VENKATARAMA REDDY and A. GUPTA, Characteristics of soil-cement blocks using highly sandy soils, Materials and Structures, 38, July 2005, pp. 651-658, K. VENUMADHAVA RAO, Some Studies on Flexural and Compressive Strength cf Masonry, M.Se. thesis, Dept. of Civil Eng, Indian Institute of Scieace, Bangalore 560 012, 1993. G. SARANGAPANT and S.A, SAJID, Compressive strength and geological characteristics ef Natural Building Stones, 6th Int. ‘Seminar on Structural Masonry for Developing Countries, Bangalore, 11-13 October 2000, pp. 107-109.LIME AND LIME- ———._ POZZOLANA CEMENTS Engineers and the lay public often have the impression that use of lime in building construction is a retrograde step and that it can never compete with a modern material like portland coment. This impression is porhaps correct. as long as one is thinking of coneretes with strengths in excess of 15.0 MPa. However, it must. be observed that nearly half the cement in a building is used for low strength applications like plasters and mortars where the strength requirement is often as low as 3.0 MPa. Portland cement is certainly not the best material if one looks at the roquirements of a mortar that it should be preferably slow setting and have high level of plasticity and flow. Mortars are prepared in Western countries by invariably mixing cement and lime or cement and pulverized calcium carbonate. Although Bureau of Indian Standards includes mixing of cement and lime in mortars, it is never used in practice due to the inherent prejudice against lime Its necessary here to emphasize that addition of lime to cement ‘mortars, slows down the initial setting of cement. Such mortars, can be used effectively over a much longer time after addition of water. Contact between brick and mortar and the bonding of brick and mortar are very much improved by the addition of lime. It is henee necessary to recognize the inherent. value of lime in the preparation of building mortars. [2 THE RAW MATERIALS 3.2.1 Lime Stone ‘One of the basic raw materials for all lime based mortars is lime stone. Lime stone is essentially calcium carbonate in nature, Calcium being one of the fairly abundant metals on earth. Natural lime stone is one of the purer forms of calcium carbonate occurring in nature, 29Caleium carbonate is mildly soluble in water and can sometimes be leached out by water and ultimately deposited with elay as an impurity in the form of ‘Kankar’ lime stone. There is also an organic source of lime stone in the form of shell lime which is usually available in Coastal areas. All the three sources of lime stone are used for building purposes. The ‘Kankar’ variety of lime stone usually displays hydraulic properties after burning. The requirements for the use of ime for building purposes may be obtained from a number of Codes/specifications drawn up by the Bureau of Indian Standards. These may be briefly listed as. 18:712-1973 + Specification for building limes. 18:1514.1959 ; Methods of sampling and test for quick lime and hydrated lime 18:6932-1973 : Methods of tests for building limes, ‘Two types of mortars can he prepared by using lime namely Jime-mortar and lime-pozzolana mortar. Again lime mortars are of two kinds = fat lime mortar and hydraulic mortar, When the lime stone is of high level of purity the resulting lime is fat lime and the fat lime when mixed the sand leads to fat lime mortar, This type of mortar does not need moisture for setting, it sets by absorbing CO, from the ‘atmosphere, When the lime stone has clay like impurities, the burning process leads to hydraulic lime which is actually a mixture of caleium oxide and burnt clay. This type of lime sets in the presence of moisture ‘and the calcium hydroxide reaets with the amorphous siliea and alumina present in burnt clay, In this ease, the lime-sand mixture has to be cured by keeping it moist for atleast 28 days. In general, hydraulic lime mortars have better strength than fat lime mortars ‘The following chemical reactions take place in the processing of lime stone for mortars 1. Burning of lime stone CaCO, + Ca04C0, 7 2. Slaking of quick lime Ca0+H,0 > Ca\OH),+Heat 3, Setting of fat lime CalOH)CO, > CaCO,+H,0 ‘The burning of lime stone to produce quick Hime (CaO) is generally carried out in vertical shaft kilns using either fire wood or coal as fuel. ‘Temperatures of the order of 900-1000°C are needed to release CO, from lime stone. The yield of quick lime ean be calculated from the known atomic weights of the elements.‘Thus 100 kg of lime stone will yield 56 kg of CaO. Again when quick Time is slaked, 56 kg of CaO will rive rise to 74 kg of Ca(OH), Thus a ton of lime stone, when burnt wil. give 740 kg of Ca(OH)», if there are zo impurities. The proportion would be less, if there are impurities in the lime. Figure 3.1 shows lime kiln design for small scale rural applications. The height and diameter of the kiln can be adjusted to burn 500 kg to 1 ton limestone. The 500 kg kiln will need about 45% fire ‘wood by weight while the 1 ton one will need about 35% fire wood by ‘weight. The figure also shows the manner in which the fire wood and Jime stone are to be stacked in alternate layers. The process of burning i started by igniting the lower most layer of fire wood from below. Once the fire wood layer catches fire, the openings at the base are to be closedleaving 2.5 em dia holes for air entry. The half ton plant will have three holes while the one ton plant will have four holes. These holes will control the rate of wood burning and will also prevent entry of excess air, It is to be noted that the kiln must have steel rings from bottom to top to prevent cracking of the kiln due to the heat. After the completion of the burning, the quick lime (CaO) ean be discharged by ‘opening the temporarily closed hole at the base. The quick lime may now be slaked and the slaked lime stored in suitable containers or bags. 3.2.2 Pozzolana Pozzolana is a material which consists essentially of amorphous silica or a mixture of amorphous silica and alumina, This is not cementitious by itself, but forms cementitious compounds when it ‘combines with calcium hydroxide at ambient temperature in the presence of moisture, A mixture of finely ground calcium hydroxide ‘and pozzolana is hence known as a lime-pozzolana cement. ‘There are many ways in which pozzolana ean be produced. ‘The following sources of pozzolana are commonly used: 1. Powdered burnt clay (commonly known as ‘Sukhi in India). 2. Fly ash. 8. Rice Husk ash. Among these, powdered burnt clay can be made either by artificially burning clay in a kiln or by selecting wastes of burnt clay materials like bricks, tiles and pottery. When clay is burnt in a kiln for the purpose of making pozzolana, it is desirable to select a soil with a high proportion of clay. If the clay occurs along with large amounts of sand, the sand may be removed by sieving to obtain high clay soil. This is necessary since sand is a diluent and does not react with lime in the manner in which pozzolana does. The high clay soil may now be made into thin briquettes, The wet clay may be spread on level ground to a thickness of 2.5 cms and then sliced into thin cakes of size 10 ems x 10 cms x 2.5 cms. These cakes may now be| Las! 3a OS TRIN 509m: L0TKIN Fig. 8.1: Lime Kiln dried and then charged into the kiln with alternate layers of fire wood. Usually the fire wood used could be around 10% of the weight of the lay. With this amount of fire wood a temperature of about 700°C can be expected. The burnt clay may now be pulverized to about 90p size particles. Ball mills are usually used for this purpose, This pozzolana can be stored in bags indefinitely without any loss of its reactivity. Fly ash as pozzolana is usually obtained from thermal power stations which use pulverized coal as the fuel. The exceedingly fine particles of burnt coal, which are collected in electrostatic precipitators are known as fly ash. They contain significant amounts of amorphous silica and alumina. Thermal power plants also produce significant amounts of coal ash in the form of pond ash and bottom ash. These types of ashes are generally not good as pozzolana. Fly ash is a wasteproduct and may be considered as a zero thermal energy material, unlike burnt clay which needs specific energy inputs. Rice husk ash is a natural source of silica, Normally rice husk contains about 20% silica and the rest of it is combustible material. This silica is amorphous and if the husk is burnt under controlled conditions a highly pozzolanic ash can be produced. A number of studies have been carried out by various authors on different ways of producing reactive silica from rice husk (1, 2, 3, 4). The techniques developed by Yogananda, Jagadish and Kumar and others (2, 3) are discussed here. Figures 3.2 and 3.3 show two typical arrangements for burning rice hhusk, In the first version, an annular honey comb brick structure is erected and a closely spaced mesh is placed at a height of 20 ems ‘above the ground. Alternate layers of rice husk and clay are placed in the kiln such that the husk is about 30 to 40% by weight of the clay. ‘The width of the elay layer should be about 15 cms less than the width of husk to permit easy air movement through the bed of husk. The stack is now set fire to from below. The entire mass burns out over ‘one or two days. The end product is a mixture of burnt clay ar rice hhusk ash. This may be ground in a ball mill to obtain fine pozz slana, 60 90 cay + Rice husk eo lao (Dimensions are in ems) Fig. 3.2: Honeycomb Kiln for Combination Pozzolana In the second technique, Kapur et al. developed what is known as the tube in basket burner. It has an annular mesh enclosure in which rice husk is stacked and set fire to from below. The entire mass burns over several hours with central opening acting as a chimney. A copper tube carrying water may be inserted in the bed of husk to generate hot water from the burning husk. This technique also leads to good quality pozzolana ‘The first version leads to what may be called as combination pozzolana, which is a mixture of burnt clay and rice husk ash. Thistechnique has the advantage of producing a relatively larger quantity of pozzolana. It must be noted that the national availability of rice husk ash is around 2,0 million tones while the cement consumption is 100 million tons, By adding burnt clay about 10 million tons of combination pozzolana can be generated in the country. _ 3.3.1 Lime-Pozzolana Cement An intimate mixture of lime and pozzolana will set in the presence of water, forming calcium silicate and calcium aluminate compounds. In the traditional lime-surkhi mortar, slaked lime and brick powderused to be mixed and ground in the presence of moisture in bullock driven mortar mills. The ground moist mixture is then directly used in construction. In the modern context, bullock driven mortar mills fare not common and power driven pan mills can be used to grind the ‘mortar. Unlike portland cement, which is already a camplete cementitious product, lime pozzolana cement needs an additional step of mixing lime and pozzolana. The efficacy of the lime pozzolana cements depends on the intimacy of the mixing of lime and pozzolana. Experiments by Yogananda (4) showed that by intergrinding lime and pozzolana powders for about. an hour, the strength of lime-pozzolana- sand mortars ean be increased to double the value. ‘The traditional process of lime surkchi mortar involved wet grinding oflime and surkhi mixture. According to the studies made at Karnataka Engineering Research Station, K.R. Sagar Dam site, it was found that, the mortar strength reaches a maximum ‘when the duration of grinding is 85 minutes (5). Grinding for longer or shorter durations leads to | tower strengths. However, in the context of modern construction wet grinding may be considered to be an inconvenient procedure, since this needs deployment of diesel engine or electrical energy at the site for mortar mixing. It would be ideal if wet grinding ean be avoided. ‘Two alternative techniques have been explored at the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (4). These techniques may be listed as (a) Dry blending of lime and pozzolana and (b) Wet blending of lime and pozzolana ‘These techniques may now be discussed in detail. (@) Dry Blending of Lime and Pozzolana In this technique, the slaked lime and pozzolana should be separately processed as dry powders. The pozzolana may be dry ground to fineness of 90p. The two powders may now be blended in a ball mill for a duration of about 1 hour. In this technique, the size reduction of lime and pozzolana is carried out first and mixing the two is carried out subsequently. This is useful since a coarse pozzolana cannot be satisfactorily ground if it is initially mixed with lime powder. This ‘mixture is then added to sand and after thorough dry mixing, water is added to complete the preparation of mortar. This procedure also means that the dry mixture of lime and pozzolana may have to be stored in bags. This also leads to the question of shelf life of lime- pozzolana mixture. Studies were made by Yogananda (4) and H.R. Phalanetra et al, (6) on this aspect. It was found that lime pozzolanaEe ae mixtures will loose strength rapidly on storage. Storage in gunny or woven LDPE bags is especially bad for shelf life. When stored in such bags, the 21 day strength shows a 60% reduction after 45 days of storage. However, when stored in impervious plastics or paper bags the strength fall is about 35% after 45 days of storage. Apparently, the residual moisture present in the lime or pozzolana will initiate the reaction between the two even when stored in ‘dry’ conditions, Air absorption in the case of bags with small pores will worsen the situation. It is hence important to note that the blended dry mixture of lime and pozzolana should not be stored for more than 14 days if the strength reduction is to be less than 10%. ‘The poor shelf life of lime-pozzolana mixture is probably one reason why this approach to alternative cements has not succeeded. (b) Wet Blending of Lime and Pozzolana In this approach, the pozzolana has to be produced and ground to ‘90n fineness and stored in gunny or woven LDPE bags. The pozzolana can be stored indefinitely. Slaked lime may be freshly produced by slaking quick lime at the site, The slaked lime and the well ground pozzolana may now be mixed in a simple drum or hand operated concrete mixer in the presence of water. This approach obviates the need to produce dry slaked lime powder which can be problematic. ‘The slaked lime is generally in a finely divided form and the blending of ground pozzolana is facilitated by the presence of moisture. After blending the two for about 20 minutes, the lime-pozzolana slurry may now be poured over sand and mixed thoroughly to get the lime- pozzolana mortar. [$4 PROPERTIES AND USES 3.4.1 Strength of Mortars with Burnt Clay and Combination Pozzolana ‘A number of studies were carried out to determine the typical strengths of lime-pozzolana mortars using burnt lay and combination pozzolana (4, 6). Typical results of burnt clay pozzolana based mortars are shown in Table 3.1. The listed proportions indicate proportion by weight. It can be seen that the 28 day strengths of most of the mortars are above the BIS. Codal requirement of 3.0 MPa, It must, however, be noted that the bulk density of lime-burnt clay mixture is quite low and hence the mortar proportions by volume are quite rich when compared to the usual cement mortar proportions. This means that greater proportion of lime-pozzolana cement has to be used to achieve satisfactory mortar strengths.‘Table 3.1 Strength of Lime-Burnt Clay Pozzolana Mortars ‘Type of | Particle ‘Average Resource | size of Compressive /pozzolana Strength, ‘microns ‘MPa 7a_[ 26a | 1804 Red < 90 ° 129 [aa [64 | — Soil 1 Red < 90 30 ize | 4s | 61 | 9s Soil 2 Black <9 30 24 | 5.1 | 8.75 Soil 1 Tle <9 30 129 | 3.95 | 77 | - Powder Brick < 600 ° rao | 0.55 | 18 | 3.15 Powder 7 ‘The typical strengths of lime-combination pozzolana mortars are shown in Table 3.2. Here items 1 and 2 represent combination pozzolana wherein rice husk ash and burnt clay are separately produced and blended. Items 3 to 8 represent the ease when clay is burnt using rice husk as fuel. The proportion of clay and rice husk is indicated to help understand the clay-rice husk ash ratio. It can be seen that when the burnt clay and rice husk ash are separately produced adequate rice husk ash can be added to provide good strengths. In fact the mortars are so strong that the sand content. has to be increased to provide ‘usual mortar strength, When rice husk is used to burn the clay, the process becomes more economical but the strengths are moderate. It must be noted, however, that 6 month strengths are substantially high. A clay-rice husk ratio of 1:0.6 is ideal from the point of view of strength and economy. ‘Table 3.2 Strength of Lime-Pozzolana Mortars ‘SL | Pro- | RHA: [Mortar | Blending] WC Com- No. |portion| Burnt | Pro- | minutes | Ratio | pressive ‘ef Soil] Clay | portion | L:Pozz: Strongth, & RH ‘sand ‘MPa 7 7a_| 284 [1800 1 | - Jo75225) 1322) 60 - fire five] - 2| - josas| 129 | 30 - fror | 161] - “(Conta3.4.2 Fly Ash as Pozzolana As mentioned earlier, fly ash is collected from electrostatic precipitators in thermal power stations which use pulverized coal as the fuel. When exceedingly fine coal particles are burt, the residence times are low and the ash containing silica and alumina is quite | amorphous. This ash, which is very fine in terms of particle size, is | hence quite reactive and is an excellent pozzolana, There are also | types of fly ash which are coarse and not very reactive, The grain size | distributions of two samples of fly ash from Raichur and Neyveli are shown in Figure 3.4. It ean be seen that the Raichur fly ash is very fine And 30% of the particles are finer than 2y. The Neyveli ash is rather coarse and most of the particles are coarser than 25p. ‘The characteristics of fly ash as pozzolana were studied using these two samples and making lime pozzolana mortar cubes of 5 cm size. The lime-fly ash mixtures were interground in a ball mill. Accelerating additives like plaster-of-paris, gypsum or anhydrite were sometimes added. Table 3.3 shows the results for lime-fly ash-sand proportions of 1:2:9 and 1:1.5:7.6. The table shows that use of plaster- of-paris to the tune of 5 to 10% of the weight of lime+fly ash is beneficial in increasing the short term strength and is thus acting as an accelerator. The table clearly shows that lime-fly ash mortars are eminently suitable for construction with the 180 day strengths in excess of 10.0 MPa. One could use leaner mortars because of the high strength of 1:3 cement-sand proportion. Again the Raichur fly ash, with its fine particles is exceedingly good as pozzolana while Neyveli fly ash is very much inferior. It could perhaps be used in 1:1.5:7.5 proportion without adding any accelerator. It may also be observed that adding plaster-of- paris to the tune of 15% of the lime + fly ash weight is not that beneficial