Academic literature on the topic 'Burnt Clay Brick'

The current study examines the use of oil palm fibre ash (OPFA) and rice husk ash (RHA) mixture in the treatment of A-6 Makurdi clay for burnt brick production. The results show that the compressive strength of 9.4 MN/m2 for burnt untreated brick increased to 10.86 MN/m2 for burnt 2%OPFA+2%RHA treated brick. The corresponding water absorption of 14.9% for the burnt untreated brick increased to 16.2% for burnt 2%OPFA+2%RHA treated brick. The strength value of 10.86 MN/m2 is greater than 10.3 MN/m^2 which is the minimum strength value for negligible weather (NW) conditions. The water absorption of 16.2% is less than 17%, 22% and ‘no limit’ which are the maximum values for severe weather (SW), moderate weather (MW) and NW respectively. Based on combined strength and water absorption criteria, burnt bricks production with 2%OPFA+2%RHA treated A-6 Makurdi clay is adequate for use as a load-bearing brick in wall areas of NW condition.

Burnt clay bricks can be readily manufactured in Ghana as all ten regions have significant clay deposits with the Ashanti region having the highest estimated deposit of 37.1 million metric tonnes. In recent times, burnt clay bricks have been regarded as old fashioned and replaced by other perceived modern walling units within Kumasi, the metropolitan capital of Ashanti Region, despite its availability, unique advantages (aesthetics, low maintenance cost, etc.), and structural and nonstructural properties. This study involved a questionnaire survey of 85 respondents made up of architects, brick manufacturing firms, and brick house owners or occupants in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana and sought to examine their perceptions on barriers to the use of burnt clay bricks for housing construction. The findings revealed that the key factors inhibiting the use of burnt clay bricks for housing construction are low material demand, excessive cost implications, inappropriate use in construction, noncompatibility of burnt clay bricks with other materials, unreliable production, and transportation problems. The findings however provide a platform for stakeholders to address the barriers to enable the extensive use of clay bricks in housing constructions.

Water treatment plants produce a huge amount of sludge, which are ultimately disposed to the nearest water channel, leading to harmful effects. This unmanaged wastewater treatment plant sludge (WTS) results in social and environmental concerns. Therefore, the utilization of WTS in construction activities can be a viable option for the management of waste sludge, leading to sustainable infrastructures. The main aim of this study was to investigate the potential of WTS in the manufacturing of clay bricks at an industrial scale. WTS was procured from the Rawal Lake water treatment plant, Pakistan. Clay was collected from a local industrial brick kiln site. Brick specimens with varying percentages of WTS (i.e., 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% and 40%) were casted and their mechanical and durability characteristics were evaluated. It was observed that the bricks incorporating WTS showed higher compressive and flexural strengths compared to that of the normal clay bricks. For instance, brick specimens incorporating 5% WTS by weight of clay showed a 10% increase in compressive strength. Furthermore, brick specimens incorporating 20% of WTS by clay weight satisfied the strength requirements as per local building codes for masonry construction. Scanning electronic microscopic (SEM) images confirm the porous microstructure of brick specimens manufactured with WTS, which results in 12% lighter clay bricks as compared to conventional clay bricks. Moreover, the durability characteristics of brick specimens incorporating WTS showed better performance. It can be concluded that bricks fabricated with a high proportion of WTS (i.e., 20%) will minimize the environmental overburden and lead to more durable and economical masonry construction.

Burnt clay bricks are widely used as a construction material in Pakistan, and their testing for quality confirmation is frequently needed for new and old bricks used in existing structures. The destructive testing methods are time-consuming and not always feasible for testing the bricks used in existing structures. The current study investigated the feasibility of using the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) test as a non-destructive technique to assess the quality of both new and old bricks in masonry structures. A relationship was developed after performing the UPV test followed by a compression test on burnt clay brick samples of five different ages acquired from different sources. The acquired brick samples ranged from new to a century old. Consequently, as a novel contribution, brick quality assessment criteria based on UPV were proposed according to which a UPV value greater than 3000 m/s represents an excellent first-class brick whereas a UPV value lower than 2000 m/s shows a second-class brick. Further, the effectiveness of the UPV test to assess the compressive strength of old bricks was demonstrated with a case study of a 100-year-old masonry structure. The research concluded with the remarks that the compressive strength of bricks can be assessed with reasonable accuracy using the UPV test. The developed quality assessment criteria can be used to quickly check the quality of new and old burnt clay bricks.

The aim of this study is to present the results of breaking strength tests for burnt clay bricks from various historical deposits. The native clay bricks production technique is the known method of brick making, particularly in South Asian countries. Numerous studies have been conducted on hand-molded formed bricks. The clay bricks that were considered for the comparative study, were made from four different clays sources. Their breaking strength was determined using for examining the maximum load at failure and the effects were investigated subsequently. The basic objective of this experimental study was to compare the breaking strength of locally fired clay bricks using a novel based completely randomized design via a single factor with four levels of clay sources representing the factors. For this purpose, 24 brick samples were made from four different clay sources while the breaking strength of each sample was measured. Pairwise comparison trials, including Duncan’s multiple range, Newman–keuls, Fisher’s least and Tukey’s tests were conducted. Based on experimental investigations, the results revealed that using analysis of variance at 95% CI, the difference in breaking strength between clay source of Hyderabad (A) and Rawalpindi (B), followed by Kohat (C) and Peshawar (D) was significant and also the difference among the means of these clay courses was significant which clearly exposed that the clay site and chemical composition has a great impression of the breaking strength of the burnt bricks.

The sludge produced in the treatment process depends on the type of coagulant and other chemicals used and the suspended particles present in raw water. Discarding this sludge in the landfills poses pollution of both ground and surface water, disturbing the lives in the water and the water quality. The primary potable water provider in Sri Lanka is the National Water Supply and Drainage Board. It focuses on finding ways of disposal, sustainable practices, and possible applications of the water treatment sludge. This research aims to identify the aluminum level in the potable water treatment sludge of the Konduwattuvana water treatment plant in Ampara and to utilize that sludge as an alternative raw material in burnt clay brick manufacturing. The national standards and limitations of the sludge content and the standard brick manufacturing process were followed. To reach the aim, a sequence of tests was conducted, and the brick characteristics are subjected to test for different sludge ratios according to the Sri Lankan Standard of 36:1978 for burnt clay bricks. Experimental results show that the aluminum content in liquid sludge and sludge cake was found to be 231.6 mg.L-1 and 54.9 mg.L-1, respectively, which implies that the sludge contains aluminum. The optimum sludge ratio to produce burnt clay bricks was found to be 10% of the total weight of the brick.

Burnt clay bricks are one of the most important building units worldwide, are easy and cheap to make, and are readily available. However, the utilization of fertile clay in the production of burnt clay bricks is also one of the causes of environmental pollution because of the emission of greenhouse gases from industrial kilns during the large-scale burning process. Therefore, there is a need to develop a new class of building units (bricks) incorporating recycled industrial waste, leading toward sustainable construction by a reduction in the environmental overburden. This research aimed to explore the potential of untreated coal ash for the manufacturing of building units (coal ash unburnt bricks). Coal ash unburnt bricks were manufactured at an industrial brick plant by applying a pre-form pressure of 3 MPa and later curing them via water sprinkling in a control shed. Various proportions of coal ash (i.e., 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55%) were employed to investigate the mechanical and durability-related properties of the resulting bricks, then they were compared with conventional burnt clay bricks. Compressive strength, flexural strength, an initial rate of water absorption, efflorescence, microstructural analysis via scanning electron microscopy, and cost analysis were conducted. The results of the compressive strength tests revealed that the compressive strength of coal ash unburnt brick decreased with an increase in the content of coal ash; however, up to a 45% proportion of coal ash, the minimum required compressive strength specified by ASTM C62 and local building codes was satisfied. Furthermore, bricks incorporating up to 45% of coal ash also satisfied the ASTM C62 requirements for water absorption. Coal ash unburnt bricks are lighter in weight owing to their porous developed microstructure. The cost analysis showed that the utilization of untreated, locally available coal ash in brick production leads us on the path toward more economical and sustainable building units.

Recently, the need of high living standards and developments in modern technology have significantly increased the usage of throwaway glass products. The use of these waste glass products in the production of construction materials (especially bricks) is ultimately very wholesome approach towards sustainable development. In this study, wasted glass up to 20% by weight was added to observe its impacts on bricks. The bricks containing powder glass were burnt along with ordinary bricks (with no powder glass) in same kiln and under same condition (type of fuel, temperature, duration etc.). The results illustrated that the properties of bricks vividly improved such as areal density, water absorption and efflorescence. The 20% increase of waste glass in the brick samples resulted in 14% decrease in areal density. The addition of fine powder glass filled the pores and reduced porosity of bricks. The substantial reduction in water absorption of 26.14% were observed with 20% addition of waste glass content. Also efflorescence was less in specimens having less quantity of waste glass burnt at higher temperatures. The present study presented a comprehensive analysis of waste glass as a mixing component for producing light weight sustainable bricks with improved water absorption properties.

Abstract The world is gradually looking for waste material properties and finding a way out of using it as secondary raw materials for other industrial purposes because of increasing environmental understanding and guidelines on controlling industrial waste. In the present world, the researcher’s primary aim is to enhance the usage of environmentally friendly materials and protect the environment. This research proves the possibility of using wood sawdust ash (WSDA) partially replace clay and sand manufacturing bricks. This paper used WSDA obtained from controlled combustion to replace other construction materials for bricks. The feasibility study used WSDA as an admixture with five distinct replacement levels, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%, for non-modular bricks (230×110×70) mm. The brick was evaluated for various strength parameters to authenticate clay bricks’ compressive strength, efflorescence, and water absorption properties. The findings revealed that the compressive strength of WSDA bricks (11.01 N/mm2) is higher than fly ash-cement-based and burnt clay bricks, which are 6.93 N/mm2 and 9.56 N/mm2. Also, the water absorption is (31%) lower than clay burnt bricks.

Compressed Earth Brick (CEB) as building material has many advantages compared to conventional fired clay brick in the view of sustainability, moreover if incorporated uncontrolled burnt RHA waste that usually dumped off since it has no commercial value. This paper tried to assess the effect of soil types of clay and laterite in CEB properties which abundantly available in Malaysia. The result showed that the compressive strength of CEB with 20% RHA using clay at 5.5 MPa is better than that of laterite 4.9 MPa, and both exceed that of commercial unfired clay brick from UK.

Masonry structures constitute a significant portion of building stock worldwide. Seismic performance of unreinforced masonry has been far from satisfactory. Masonry is purported to be a major source of hazard during earthquakes by reconnaissance surveys conducted aftermath of an earthquake. Reasons for the poor performance of masonry structures are more than one namely lack of deformational capacity, poor tensile strength & lack of earthquake resistance features coupled with poor quality control and large variation in strength of materials employed. Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP) composites have emerged as an efficient strengthening technique for reinforced concrete structures over the past two decades. Present thesis is focused towards analysing the behaviour of Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP) strengthened masonry under axial compression and in-plane shear loading. Determination of in-planes hear resistance of large masonry panels requires tremendous effort in terms of cost, labour and time. Masonry assemblages like prisms and triplets that represent the state of stress present in masonry walls and masonry in-fills when under the action of in-planes hear forces present an alternative option for research and analysis purposes. Hence, present research is focused towards analysing the performance of FRP strengthened masonry assemblages and unreinforced masonry assemblages. Chapter1 provides a brief review on the behaviour of masonry shear walls and masonry in-fills under the action of in-plane shear forces in addition to the performance of masonry structures during past earthquakes. Review of available literature on FRP confinement of masonry prisms with bed joints inclined from 00 to 900 to the loading axis under axial compression, analytical models available for FRP confined concrete, shear strength of masonry triplets attached with FRP is presented. Chapter 2 primarily focuses on determining the various properties of the materials involved in this research investigation. Test procedure and results of the tests conducted to determine the mechanical and related properties of the materials involved are presented. Elastic properties and stress-strain response of burnt clay brick, mortar and FRP laminates are presented. Studies conducted on behaviour of GFRP confined masonry prisms under monotonic axial compression are included in Chapter 3. The study comprised of testing masonry prisms, both unconfined and FRP confined masonry prisms under axial compression. Stretcher bond and English bond prisms, with bed joints normal and parallel to loading axis are included in this study. Two grades of GFRP,360g/m2 and 600 g/m2 are employed to confine masonry prisms. The experimental program involved masonry prism types that accounted for variations in masonry bonding pattern, bed joint inclination to the loading axis and grade of GFRP. Review of the available analytical models predicting compressive strength of FRP confined masonry prism is presented. Available models for FRP confinement of masonry are re-calibrated using the present experimental data generating new coefficients for the already existing model to develop new expression for predicting the compressive strength of FRP confined prisms. In addition to the prism types mentioned earlier, behaviour of unconfined and GFRP confined stretcher bond prisms with bed joints inclined at 300, 450 & 600 to the loading axis are further investigated. Chapter 4 primarily deals with the shear strength and deformational capacity of masonry triplets that represent joint shear failure in masonry. An experimental program involving masonry triplets attached with different types of FRP(GFRP and CFRP), grade of FRP, percentage area covered by FRP and reinforcement pattern is executed. This exercise determined the influence of these parameters over the enhancement achieved in terms of shear strength and ultimate displacement. Results of tests conducted on stretcher bond prisms presented in chapter 3 and results of tests on shear triplets presented in this chapter are combined to study the interaction between shear and normal stresses acting along the masonry bed joint at different angles of inclination. The thesis culminated with chapter 5 as concluding remarks highlighting the salient Information pertaining to the behaviour of FRP strengthened masonry under axial compression and in-plane shear loading obtained as an outcome of the research conducted as a part of this thesis.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Architecture in Sustainable and Energy Efficient Cities, 2018
The last two decades have witnessed the steady growth of the construction industry in Uganda and with it the increase in demand and supply of construction materials to support the industry. However, this trend in the two industries has been marred with escalating environmental impacts and high embodied energy along their life cycle processes. In addition, effective policies have not co-evolved fast enough towards facilitating the sustainable growth of the two sectors. This study aimed to investigate this scenario based on a qualitative study approach focusing on cement and burnt clay bricks as the two most extensively used and locally produced construction materials in Uganda. The study applies the concept of life cycle impact analysis based on the systems and processes adopted by two case study producers (Hima Cement Limited for cement and Butende Brick Works for burnt clay bricks) in order to assess the environmental impacts of the materials. This is followed by an assessment of how the respective policies have evolved towards ensuring the sustainable cradle to gate processes for the sector. Primary data from interviews and direct field observations were complemented with secondary data from statistics archives, policy documents, print media, and published academic articles on both sectors. The study finds that the construction industry’s contribution to the GDP grew from 800 million to 41 billion shillings over the 2001 to 2016 period while the respective production of brick and cement products grew by 94% over the same period. The accompanying environmental impacts findings indicate high GHG and particulate matter emissions, wastes and ecological habitat degradation as the critical ones for cement and high levels of deforestation as well as ecological habitat degradation for the bricks. Additionally, the data did not reveal any coordinated efforts towards incentivising the emergence and promotion of alternative materials. On the co-evolution of responsive policies, the study finds a pattern of fragmented and incoherently executed policy frameworks in spite of the reported evidence of the escalating negative impacts. The key recommendations include more systematic reporting and tracking of related growth and impacts, co-evolution of more coherent and systematic policy response, incentivising emergence of alternative materials as well as improved efficiencies across both production and use-disposal stages of both materials. Key words: Uganda, construction materials sector, co-evolution of policies, burnt clay bricks, cement, life cycle impact assessment, embodied energy.
XL2019

Buildings consume major amount of energy as well as natural resources leading to negative environmental impacts like resource depletion and pollution. The current task for the construction sector is to develop an evaluation tool for rating of buildings based on their environmental impacts. There are various assessment tools and models developed by different agencies in different countries to evaluate building's effect on environment. Although these tools have been successfully used and implemented in the respective regions of their origin, the problems of application occur, especially during regional adaptation in other countries due to peculiarities associated with the specific geographic location, climatic conditions, construction methods and materials. India is a rapidly growing economy with exponential increase in housing sector. Impact assessment model for a residential building has been developed based on life cycle assessment (LCA) framework. The life cycle impact assessment score was obtained for a sample house considering fifteen combinations of materials paired with 100% thermal electricity and 70%-30% thermal-solar combination, applying normalization and weighting to the LCA results. The LCA score of portland slag cement with burnt clay red brick and 70%-30% thermal-solar combination (PSC+TS+RB) was found to have the best score and ordinary Portland cement with flyash brick and 100% thermal power (OPC+T+FAB) had the worst score, showing the scope for further improvement in LCA model to include positive scores for substitution of natural resources with industrial waste otherwise polluting the environment.