Paper Title
Structural Characteristics Of Alternative Masonry Units
Abstract
Now a day’s stabilized mud blocks & solid concrete blocks are widely used as an alternative to the conventional
clay bricks for masonry construction. These blocks are a type of masonry unit manufactured by precast technique. The
demand of natural sand in the construction industry has increased a lot resulting in the reduction of sources and an increase
in price. Thus, an increased need to identify a suitable substitute that is eco-friendly and inexpensive quarry dust being
extensively used as an alternative to the sand in the production of concrete blocks. The paper deals with an experimental
study on the influence of soil type and replacing sand by quarry dust for Stabilized mud block and solid concrete blocks
respectively. The Stabilized mud block where red soil has been used have been prepared by using 5% cement except in SMB
10and SMB 11. In these SMB 10and SMB 11, 7% and 10% of Cement has been used respectively. Both Lime and
combination of Lime and Cement has been used as the stabilizer for preparing the Stabilized mud block of black cotton soil.
Four different percentages of lime has been tried (5%, 7.5%, 10% and 12.5%). Further 5% Lime and 2.5% cement has also
been used. The present investigation has taken up to know the characteristics of hand moulded solid concrete blocks
produced, both hand mixing and machine mixing has been tried. These types of blocks can be produced in remote areas. Two
proportions of concrete have been tried without admixtures and both partial (i.e.50% ) and complete replacement of sand has
been tried.
Key words- Soil, Cement, Lime, Quarry dust, Compressive strength, Stress-Strain relationships,