SATHISH KUMAR R(1), MAGANTI JANARDHANA(2) and DARGA KUMAR N(3),
(1) PhD Research Scholar, JNTUH College of Engineering Hyderabad, & Senior Associate Professor, NICMAR, India. kumar.sathish100@gmail.com
(2) Professor of Civil Engineering, JNTUH College of Engineering, Hyderabad, India,
janardhanamaganti@gmail.com
(3) Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering, JNT University, Hyderabad, India, ndkjntu@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Sustainability of a building depends largely on the energy efficiency of building materials. With the growing concern about sustainable building materials and environmental issues, examining compressed stabilised earth blocks (CSEB) made with soil, rice husk ash and lime, which are cost effective, energy efficient and environmental friendly has been undertaken. The compressive strength of compressed stabilised earth block masonry depends on the properties of its constituent materials, the masonry unit and mortar. Experimental investigation into the compressive strength of prototype masonry structures requires large testing machines and considerable time, and is not always feasible at construction sites as it increases overall cost and time of construction. This drawback may be overcome by employing simple mathematical models which effectively and reliably simulate of masonry prisms. In this study, simple mathematical equations are proposed to predict the strength of block and masonry with a reasonable accuracy. These models provide important data on the strength and quality of block units without the need of large testing equipment. This study includes the simulation of masonry prism testing using Finite Element Models and it is observed that there is a reasonable agreement between the experimental and numerical values for the compressive strength of block masonry, obtained from the prism test. The crack patterns observed from the experiment and as predicted by Finite Element analysis also agree with reasonable accuracy.
KEYWORDS: Rice husk ash, Masonry prism; concrete block, compressive strength, finite element analysis.