Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Mechanical properties of clay masonry units: Destructive and ultrasonic

testing
Sarkar Noor-E-Khuda a,⇑, Faris Albermani b
a
School of Engineering and Technology, Central Queensland University, Perth, WA 6000, Australia
b
School of Engineering and Technology, Central Queensland University, Mackay, QLD 4740, Australia

h i g h l i g h t s

UPV tests conducted on old and new clay brick specimens.

Compressive and flexural strength of clay bricks investigated.

Correlations between UPV measurements from different directions presented.

Correlations between UPV and compressive and flexural strength of clay bricks established.

Flexural strength predicted by UPV was approx. 10% of the compressive strength.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The compressive and flexural strength of old and new clay bricks are investigated in this paper. Total 52
Received 29 November 2018 specimens comprising of old bricks collected from four different building sites in Western Australian and
Received in revised form 5 May 2019 five different types of commonly used new bricks are used in the study. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) of
Accepted 27 May 2019
the bricks were measured along the parallel and normal to the bed joint and parallel to the wall thickness
Available online 4 June 2019
directions. Compressive and flexural strength tests were conducted after the UPV testing. Results showed
that the old bricks provided lower compressive strength which was well picked by the UPV readings. The
Keywords:
flexural strength of the old bricks was comparatively higher than the new bricks. A common correlation
Ultrasonic pulse velocity
Clay bricks
between the compressive and flexural strength of the old and new bricks and the corresponding UPV
Compressive strength readings is proposed, which can assist in on-site UPV testing of clay brick masonry buildings.
Flexural strength Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Correlation

1. Introduction the harsh WA climate. It is generally accepted that weathering

Masonry is a popular construction material used extensively in
the residential housing sector in Australia and most parts of the
world. Usage of masonry in Western Australia (WA) dates back
to the mid-nineteenth century. Important structures built back
then such as The Round House, The Old Court House, St John’s
Pro-Cathedral, The Perth Town Hall etc., all located at the busy
alleyways of Perth are still used for commercial and/or residential
purposes. The detailed diagnostic analysis is essential for the
preservation and strengthening of these historic buildings [1–5].
Limited research is available on the effect of long-term weathering
on the strength of building materials [2,3] particularly considering
the unknown effects of prolonged exposure to heating/cooling in
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: s.noorekhuda@cqu.edu.au (S. Noor-E-Khuda), f.albermani@
cqu.edu.au (F. Albermani).
can degrade the strength of bricks/building stones over time and
reduce capacity to perform under seismic and cyclonic loading
during their service life [3–8]. Such scenarios have the propensity
of causing the failure of the weakened brick/stone units under ser-
vice load and may cause sudden loss of strength/stiffness of the
structural members, consequently collapse (partially/fully) of the
building. This poses a serious concern because of the probable
casualties to the users of the building and the public from the fall-
ing of debris especially considering the crowded city centres where
the majority of the heritage buildings are situated. Moreover, con-
dition monitoring of many modern masonry buildings is required
particularly in situations where there is a need for further vertical
extension or when the walls are partially damaged during the
early/mid-service life due to improper usage, seismic/cyclonic
events, vehicular impacts, fire etc. Several authors [1–5] reported
that the strength of the masonry units (dressed stones/clay bricks)
can be affected under such actions. A diagnostic analysis of such

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.05.166
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
112 S. Noor-E-Khuda, F. Albermani / Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120

buildings can provide an economic and sustainable strengthening The compressive and flexural strength of several types of old
alternative to the complete demolition and rebuilding of the main and new clay bricks commonly used in WA are investigated in this
structure. paper. The old bricks (25–50 years old) were collected from differ-
While the destructive testing methods are widely accepted due ent suburbs around the Perth metro area, while the new bricks
to the accuracy of the test results, developments in the non- were collected directly from a local brick manufacturer. UPV tests
destructive testing (NDT) technology in recent years has facilitated were conducted on all the clay brick specimens and correlations
detailed structural investigation of the existing and monumental between UPV and compressive and flexural strength are estab-
structures [6,7]. In fact, it is expected that the structural assess- lished. The correlations can be used for on-site strength assess-
ment of historic buildings to be conducted with the least intrusion ment of old and modern clay brick buildings using the UPV
to the structural form and with minimal cosmetic damages, which method. The material properties determined from the UPV testing
motivates the scientific community towards the NDT methods [1]. can be incorporated in finite element (FE) modelling to provide an
Several researchers adopted the NDT techniques such as ground acceptable prediction on the structural performance of full-scale
penetration radar, acoustic emission, rebound hammer and laser masonry buildings.
scanning in micro level material characterisation and damage
detection [7,8] of masonry and other building materials. The ultra- 2. Non-destructive and destructive testing
sonic pulse velocity (UPV) method is a well-accepted NDT tech-
nique used both in the laboratory-based investigations and on- Details of the test specimens and the non-destructive and the
site material characterisation and damage detection. The UPV destructive test program are discussed under this section.
method involves high-frequency sound waves above 20 kHz which
are transmitted through the material under test and the velocity of
2.1. Clay brick specimens
the wave passing through are measured. The measured velocity
(UPV) depends on the crystal structure, material properties and
Total nine series of clay bricks, shown in Fig. 1 were used in this
the defects in the test specimen. Previous researchers used the
study. Four series of the clay bricks, H-series, O-series, S-series and
UPV method in assessing the mechanical properties of concrete
W-series, were collected from recently demolished old building
[9], masonry [10,11] and other building stones [12–15].
sites in Perth. The locations of the building sites are shown in
Masonry walls are constructed as an array of bricks/blocks con-
Fig. 2. The H-/W-series bricks and the O-/S-series bricks were of
nected using a mortar bed and head joints. Due to the difference in
the age of approx. 25–30 years and 45–50 years, respectively. The
the strength of the constituent materials and orientation of the
O-/S-series bricks also contained frog indentations. The other five
joints, masonry behaves as a composite material with distinct
series, A-series, AS-series, BS-series, R-series and RS-series; were
strength properties along the parallel and normal to the bed joint
the new brick products collected from a local brick manufacturer.
directions [16,17]. The failure pattern of masonry is governed by
The naming of the old bricks was done by the first letter of the
the strength of the constituent materials, which is interlinked with
respective site location (suburb/street names) while the new bricks
the strength of masonry. The structural performance of the
were named based on their colour. The A-/R-series and the AS-/
masonry buildings is heavily dependent on the structural configu-
BS-/RS-series comprised of cored and solid bricks, respectively.
ration and material properties [18,19]. Past research showed that
Minimum five specimens of each series were collected and used
the in-plane [20–22] and the out-of-plane capacity [23–25] of
for the non-destructive and the destructive testing.
the masonry walls and its performance under multi-directional
Three independent dimension readings each along the length,
loading are influenced by the properties of the constituent materi-
width and height of the bricks were taken and the average of the
als [19,26]. As such, the structural performance of the existing and
three readings was used to determine the dimension of each brick
historic masonry buildings under seismic and cyclonic loading can
specimen. The orientation of a brick specimen is shown in Fig. 3.
potentially be compromised due to the degradation of the strength
The average dimension of each series of brick is presented in
of the brick units [16].
Table 1.

Fig. 1. Test specimens (a) H-series, (b) O-series, (c) S-series, (d) W-series, (e) A-series, (f) AS-series, (g) BS-series, (h) R-series, (j) RS-series.
 S. Noor-E-Khuda, F. Albermani / Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120 113

H-se ries

W-series

O -series

S-series

Fig. 2. Location of old brick sites.

2.2. UPV testing

y
Height (h) The UPV testing of the brick specimens was performed using
the direct transmission method, within the guidelines of ASTM
x D2845 – 05 [29]. A Proceq Pundit PL-200 instrument, two 54 kHz
Width (b) Proceq transducers and standard Proceq couplant gel were used
z in all tests. The test setup is demonstrated in Fig. 4(a). Calibration
Length (l)
of the UPV instrument and Proceq ultrasonic couplant gel was
(a) checked using Pundit calibration rod to ensure the accuracy of
Unit
the readings. The UPV was obtained by placing the transducers
on the exact opposite parallel faces of the test specimen, a grid sys-
Head tem was used to identify the correct location of each reading. The
Joint test mechanism comprised of the pulser transducer which trans-
Bed mitted the ultrasonic waves through the test specimen while the
Joint receiver transducer received the transmitted wave. The distance
travelled by the transmitted wave (Dw) and the time required
(b) ðDt Þ for the travel was used in the computation of UPV. Adequate
Proceq ultrasonic couplant gel was used for better connectivity
Fig. 3. Orientation of constituents of masonry (a) unit, (b) assemblage. between the transducers and the clay brick surface, which is usu-
ally rough. The transmitted ultrasonic waves and the UPV values
Table 2 shows the density, porosity and absorption capacity of were carefully observed using the inbuilt oscilloscope in the Pundit
the tested bricks. The material composition, firing temperature PL-200 device, an example A-scan reading is shown in Fig. 4(b).
and durability class of the new bricks are also included in Table 2. Once the ultrasonic wave and UPV reading reached a steady posi-
Density and absorption capacity of the specimens were measured tion, the UPV readings were recorded. Three readings parallel to
as per the guidelines of AS 4456.14-2003 [27]. A similar approach the bed joint [UPVx], three readings normal to the bed joint [UPVy]
of [28] was adopted to measure the porosity of the specimens, and three readings parallel to the wall thickness [UPVz] of each
where porosity is calculated using Eq. (1). brick specimen were taken. UPV readings were taken on the air-
bulk density dry brick samples. In order to assess the influence of moisture on
Porosity ¼ 1  ð1Þ UPV, additional UPV readings were taken on all the brick samples
particle density
at the saturated and oven-dry states. The lateral dimension of each

Table 1
Specimens used in non-destructive and destructive testing.

Series Name Bricks Colour Dimensions (mm)

Type Classification General Munsell Length Width Height
H Solid Old Brown 5YR 4/4 232.4 ± 4.2 111.8 ± 1.8 72.8 ± 6.6
O Brown 2.5YR 3/3 227.6 ± 2.1 108 ± 0.7 76 ± 2.4
S Red 2.5YR 6/6 229.8 ± 2.8 108 ± 1.2 73.8 ± 1.7
W Amber 7.5YR 6/3 227.8 ± 3.7 106.4 ± 2.8 74.6 ± 1.1
A Cored New Amber 10YR 8/4 227.8 ± 0.1 110 ± 0.1 75 ± 0.1
AS Solid Amber 7.5YR 8/4 229.7 ± 0.4 107 ± 0.0 75 ± 0.1
BS Solid Brown 10YR 3/4 227.9 ± 0.2 110 ± 0.1 75 ± 0.1
R Cored Red 10R 4/8 229.9 ± 0.2 110 ± 0.1 75 ± 0.1
RS Solid Red 2.5YR 4/6 228 ± 0.0 110 ± 0.1 75 ± 0.1
114 S. Noor-E-Khuda, F. Albermani / Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120

Table 2
Properties of bricks.

Properties/Series H-series O-series S-series W-series A-series AS-series BS-series R-series RS-series
Feature Solid Solid Solid-frog Solid-frog Cored Solid Solid Cored Solid
indentation indentation
Firing Temperature – – – – 4 soaks at 4 soaks at 5 soaks at 4 soaks at Varies
1160 ⁰C 1160 ⁰C 1140 °C 1105 ⁰C
Composition – – – – Clay Clay Clay + Manganese Clay Clay
Oxide
Dry Density (kg/m3) 1743 1936 2030 1857 1404 1949 1967 1595 2135
Cold Water 15.62 10.28 10.34 15.10 10.7 8.62 7.93 9.1 7.81
Absorption (%)
Porosity (%) 35.92 28.82 25.37 31.73 48.38 28.35 27.68 41.36 21.51
Durability Class – – – – Exposure Exposure Exposure General General
Grade Grade Grade Purpose Purpose

Fig. 4. UPV testing, (a) test setup, (b) example A-scan report.

unit was ensured before UPV testing. To compensate for the effect
of frog indentation, the height of the S-series bricks was adjusted
by deducting the depth of indentation. For the O-series bricks, no
UPVy readings were taken on the frog indentation. For the cored
bricks (A- and R-series), UPVy readings were taken either on the
solid web shells of the brick or the solid portion in between the
cores.
The minimum lateral dimension of the clay brick specimens (t)
was checked against the UPV test guidelines of ASTM D2845-05
[29] using Eq. (2).
t P 5ðv =f Þ P 5d
where, f ; m and d refers to the natural resonance frequency of the
transducers, the pulse velocity and the average grain size of the test
specimen, respectively. Similar sized granite specimens tested using
the 54 kHz transducers [12] gave acceptable UPV prediction, which
further endorses the test arrangement used in the study.
2.3. Compressive and flexural strength testing
The compressive and flexural test setup used in this study is
shown in Fig. 5(a) and (b), respectively. A CONTROLS PILOT com-
pression testing machine of 2000kN capacity was used to measure
the uniaxial compressive strength of the brick specimens. The
three-point bending test arrangement of a CONTROLS flexural
strength device was used to measure the flexural strength. Total
52 brick specimens, min. three specimens from each series of
bricks were tested for compressive strength and min. two speci-
mens from each series of bricks were tested for flexural strength.
ð2Þ The compressive strength and the flexural strength tests were per-
formed within the test guidelines of AS 4456.4-2003 [30] and
ASTM C67/67 M-18 [31], respectively. A loading rate of 14 kN/s
and 0.2 kN/s was maintained in the compressive and flexural
strength test, respectively.
The uniaxial compressive strength ðrc Þ of the brick units were
calculated using the ultimate compressive load (P) resisted by
 S. Noor-E-Khuda, F. Albermani / Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120 115

Fig. 5. Destructive testing (a) compressive strength, (b) flexural strength.

the brick and the cross-section area of the brick ðA ¼ l  bÞ, using and the standard deviation of the readings was small compared
Eq. (3). The flexural strength ðf t Þ of the brick units were measured to the old bricks (shown in Fig. 6(a)). UPV of the A-, AS-, BS-, R-
using Eq. (4). and RS- series were 2884 ± 71 m/s, 3189 ± 46 m/s, 3180 ± 49 m/s,
3150 ± 55 m/s and 3407 ± 91 m/s, respectively. It was also noted
rc ¼ P=A ð3Þ that the UPV measurements were influenced by the closely posi-
tioned cores. UPV readings taken on the cored bricks were approx.
2
f t ¼ 3W ðs=2  xÞ=bh ð4Þ 300 m/s lower than those taken on similar solid bricks.

where b and h refer to the width and height of the brick unit,
3.2. Destructive test results
respectively. The parameter s refers to the distance between the
supports while W is the ultimate load resisted by the specimen
Fig. 7 shows the compression and flexural test results of the ser-
under flexure, and x is the average distance between the mid-
ies of clay bricks. From Fig. 7(a) it can be seen that the compressive
span of the unit and the plane of failure.
4000
W H O S
3. Test results and discussions 3500

The non-destructive and destructive test results of all nine ser- 3000
UPVy [m/s]

ies of bricks are discussed in this section. 2500

2000
3.1. UPV test results
1500
Fig. 6(a) and (b) shows the UPV test results of the old and new 1000
brick units, respectively. The readings shown in Fig. 6 were taken
500
along the height (y-direction in Fig. 3) of the specimens [normal
to the bed joint direction]. Three individual readings were taken 0
for each specimen and the average UPV and the standard deviation 1 2 3 4 5 6
were then calculated. Brick Specimen
From Fig. 6 it can be seen that the UPV readings taken on the old
(a)
bricks were comparatively lower than those taken on the new
bricks. The average UPV of the old and the new brick units were 4000 A AS BS R RS
2506.5 ± 395 m/s and 3161.6 ± 179 m/s, respectively. Such an
observation is in line with the density and absorption capacity of 3500
the bricks presented in Table 2. The density of the old bricks and 3000
the new solid bricks were 1891.5 kg/m3 and 2017 kg/m3, respec-
UPVy [m/s]

tively and their absorption capacities were 14.83% and 8.84%, 2500
respectively. From Fig. 6(a) it was also noticed that UPV of the H- 2000
and W-series bricks were 15% higher than the O- and S-series
1500
(older) bricks. The average UPV of the H- and W-series bricks were
2703 ± 236 m/s and 2723 ± 482 m/s, respectively, and that of the 1000
O- and S-series bricks were 2340 ± 204 m/s and 2385 ± 448 m/s,
500
respectively. The O- and S- series bricks have visible cracks on all
surfaces as can be seen in Fig. 1, which resulted in the lower UPV 0
readings. The UPV in the x and z directions will be discussed in 1 2 3 4 5
Sec 3.3. Brick Specimen
From Fig. 6(b) it can be seen that the UPV of the A- and RS-series (b)
bricks were the lowest and highest, respectively. UPV readings of
all five specimens of each of the new brick series were consistent Fig. 6. UPV test data (a) old bricks, (b) new bricks.
116 S. Noor-E-Khuda, F. Albermani / Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120
Fig. 7. Destructive test results (a) compressive, (b) flexural strength.
strength ðrc Þ of the old bricks was comparatively lower than the
new bricks. The average compressive strength of the old and new
bricks was 20.43 ± 6.16 MPa and 45.15 ± 11.7 MPa, respectively
which is much higher than those reported in [10,11]. rc of the
W-series and RS-series bricks were the highest, 28.54 ± 7.16 MPa
and 61.55 ± 5.6 MPa, respectively. On the contrary, rc of the O-
series and A-series bricks recorded the least value of
16.18 ± 2.79 MPa and 27.7 ± 2.4 MPa, respectively. It is also noticed
from Fig. 6 that the UPV readings of the W-series and RS-series
were the highest, and that of the O-series and A-series were the
least, which nicely aligns with the rc predictions shown in Fig. 7
(a). The solid bricks (AS-, BS- and RS-series) generally demon-
strated higher rc value over the cored bricks (A-, R-series) which
is the usual case. The rc value of the R-series red cored bricks were
comparatively high, which is well picked by the UPV readings
shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 7(b) shows the flexural strength ðf t Þ of the series of old and
new bricks. From Fig. 7(b) it is clear that the f t value of the old
bricks was comparatively higher than that of the new bricks, which
is opposite to the behaviour under compressive loading. The aver-
age f t of the old and new bricks was 5.11 ± 1.9 MPa (25% of the rc
value) and 4.38 ± 1.43 MPa (9.7% of the rc value), respectively. It
was also noticed that the new solid bricks (AS-, BS-, RS-series) pro-
vided higher flexural capacity than that of the cored bricks (A-, R-
series). The S- and AS-series bricks demonstrated the highest f t
value of 6.26 ± 0.02 MPa and 6.45 ± 0.6 MPa, respectively, while
the W- and A-series bricks provided the least f t value of
4.3 ± 1.39 MPa and 2.42 ± 0.62 MPa, respectively. The R-series red
cored bricks generally provided lower f t which was opposite to
its behaviour under compression loading.
Fig. 8 shows the typical failure mode of the brick specimens
observed in the 3-point bending test. Most of the new bricks
demonstrated a straight/sharp failure plane similar to the speci-
men A4 shown in Fig. 8(b), which initiated below the point of load
application. The older brick specimens also failed below the point
of load application although the failure plane was undulated.
Fig. 9(a) and (b) shows the failure plane of W4 and BS4,
respectively.
From Fig. 9 it is evident that the composition of the two brown
bricks, i.e., W4 and BS4 are distinct. Corroded patches along the
edges and particularly at the bottom portion of the specimen W4
could be noticed, which is anticipated as the effect of weathering.
Such a corroded patch was not noticed in the new brick specimens,
an example is shown in Fig. 9(b).
3.3. UPV along material axes
UPV readings were taken along both material axis i.e., parallel
and normal to the bed joint, to understand the orthotopic beha-
viour of the brick units. Based on the UPV readings of all the old
and new bricks, a linear correlation between UPV measurements
along the parallel and/or normal to the bed joint and parallel to
the wall thickness are proposed which are shown in Fig. 10 and
given by Eq. (5a) and (5b), with R2 = 0.76 and with R2 = 0.88, respec-
tively. From a practical viewpoint, these correlations can be partic-
ularly useful for on-site testing of masonry buildings where there
is limited access to take measurements and the most likely direc-
tion for measurement is parallel to wall thickness (z-direction in
Fig. 3).
UPV x ¼ 0:87UPV z þ 392:09 ð5aÞ
UPV y ¼ 1:0212UPV z þ 956:97 ð5bÞ
From Fig. 10, it can be seen that a common correlation is used
for all different types of old and new bricks. Although, the use of
separate correlations for the old and new bricks could increase
the accuracy of the predicted parameters, similar to [1] where dif-
ferent equations are developed for the bricks comprised a different
level of moisture content. From a practical point of view, a single
correlation for all types of clay bricks seemed to be an effective
proposition, particularly considering the large number of readings
taken in the on-site investigations. Such an approach can signifi-
cantly reduce the complexity involved in identifying the type of
clay brick and diminish the necessity of using multiple equations
for the different types of bricks [11]. The single correlation will
be particularly useful in investigating modern buildings where
the use of different types of clay bricks in the same project are
commonly seen.
3.4. Anisotropy
It is well known that masonry exhibits anisotropic behaviour
with distinct strength, elastic and inelastic material properties
along the parallel and normal to the bed joint direction [23]. The
strength of masonry with respect to the orientation of the mortar
joint is characterised by the relation f tn =f tp  0:5 and
f cn =f cp ¼ 2:0, [16,24], where f tn and f tp are the flexural strength of
masonry normal and parallel to the bed joint, respectively and,
f cn and f cp are the compressive strength of masonry normal and
parallel to the bed joint, respectively.
It is generally considered that the anisotropic behaviour of
masonry is governed by the orientation of the mortar joints
[23,24]. Although the anisotropy of the constituents of masonry,
 S. Noor-E-Khuda, F. Albermani / Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120 117

Fig. 8. Failure of specimens under 3-point bending (a) S4, (b) A4.

Fig. 9. Failure plane of specimen (a) W4 and (b) BS4.

i.e., brick and mortar, can play a considerable role in the directional
dependent behaviour. Properly discretising the anisotropic beha-
viour of brick and mortar in a detailed micro FE model can increase
the accuracy of the prediction, which instigates us to estimate the
anisotropy of the brick units. Anisotropy of the clay brick units can
be due to the distribution of the particles forming the brick, orien-
tation of the clay platelets [32,33], alignment of the microcracks
[34,35] and firing temperature/method [27], which results in low
to moderate anisotropic behaviour.
In this work, anisotropy is calculated using Eq. (6) [29].
 
UPV max  UPV min
Anisotropy % ¼  100
UPV max
Fig. 10. Correlation between UPV measured from different directions (a) UPVx vs
UPVz, (b) UPVy vs UPVz.
where UPVmax and UPVmin are the maximum and the minimum UPV
readings in m/s independent of the measurement direction. Fig. 11
shows the anisotropy of the series of clay bricks obtained from the
UPV measurements. From Fig. 11, it is obvious that the (H-, W-) ser-
ies of old bricks showed higher anisotropy (47.33 ± 9.71%) than the
(A-, AS-, BS-, R-, RS-) series of new bricks (41.53 ± 1.77%). Similar
ð6Þ anisotropy for the clay bricks was also reported by [27], [32], [33]
and [36]. Anisotropy of the H- and S-series bricks were the highest
118 S. Noor-E-Khuda, F. Albermani / Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120

Fig. 11. Anisotropy of the clay bricks.

of 51.8 ± 10.69% and lowest of 31.9 ± 3.05%, respectively. The S- and

O-series bricks showed comparatively lower anisotropy (on average
32.8 ± 5.2%) than the new bricks. When looking at Table 2 and the
fact that S- and O-series bricks have cracked surfaces, it may indi-
cate that they experienced higher firing temperature which resulted
in the higher density and low porosity, which may cause the lower
anisotropy. It was also noticed that the anisotropy of the series of
solid bricks (AS-, BS-, RS-series) was higher than that of the cored
bricks (A-, R-series). The cores present in the cored bricks facilitates
even burning which resulted in the lower material anisotropy.

3.5. UPV in oven-dry and saturated samples

UPV readings were taken on the oven-dry (OD), air-dry (AD)

and saturated brick samples to check the influence of moisture
on UPV. All the brick samples were oven dried at 110 °C for a dura-
tion of 24 h [27] to achieve the OD state. Then the brick samples Fig. 12. Linear correlation between UPV at different sates of moisture (a) OD and
were immersed in tap water at room temperature of 25 °C for a saturated; (b) OD and AD.
duration of 24 h to achieve the saturated state. All the brick sam-
ples were then air-dried in the laboratory for a duration of seven
days to reach the AD state. Fig. 13 shows the average density of the brick units plotted
Fig. 12 shows the correlation between UPV at different states of against the respective UPV measurements. A linear correlation
moisture. A good correlation could be established through the between the density of brick and UPV readings were established,
regression analysis between UPV at the OD and saturated state, shown in Eq. (9). It was noticed that the density of the clay bricks
shown in Fig. 12(a) and given by Eq. (7a) with R2 = 0.736 and, was lower than the density of concrete (2400 kg/m3). The density
between UPV at the OD and AD state, shown in Fig. 12(b) and given of some of the old bricks was around 1600 kg/m3 which relates
by Eq. (7b) with R2 = 0.731. For comparison, the correlation pro- to the low UPV readings for those specimens.
posed by [1] (Eq. (8)) for UPV measurements of OD and saturated q ¼ 0:3478UPVz þ 1114:6 ð9Þ
limestone samples are also shown in Fig. 12(a). It can be seen that
the correlation proposed through this study (Eq. (7a)) agrees well
with those reported in the literature [1]. Eq. (7a) is also plotted
in Fig. 12(b) to understand the variations of UPV in the saturated
and AD samples. It is clear that the UPV at the AD state is higher
than the saturated state, which means that UPV reduces with an
increase in the moisture content.

UPV Sat ¼ 0:8695UPV OD ð7aÞ

UPV AD ¼ 0:9038UPV OD ð7bÞ

UPV Sat ¼ 0:8043UPV OD þ 352:64 ð8Þ

3.6. Density and UPV

The mass (m) of each brick was measured in the air-dry state
and the density ðqÞ of the brick was calculated using the expres-
sion, q ¼ m=V; where V is the volume of the brick. Fig. 13. Correlation between density and UPV.
 S. Noor-E-Khuda, F. Albermani / Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120 119

A good correlation between dry density and compressive

strength of the new bricks (with R2 = 0.688) and old bricks (with
R2 = 0.58), is shown in Fig. 14. It can be seen that the compressive
strength of the old bricks varied more with changes in dry density
than that of the new bricks.

3.7. Material strength and UPV

It is already discussed in the previous sections that the com-

pressive and flexural strength of the brick units can be predicted
by UPV measurements. It is anticipated that compressive strength
correlates best with UPVy while flexural strength with UPVx.
Fig. 15 shows the compressive strength ðrc Þ of the brick units plot-
ted against the corresponding UPV values.
An exponential correlation is obtained between rc and UPVy as
shown in Fig. 15 and Eq. (10) with R2 = 0.71.
Fig. 15. Correlation between compressive strength and UPV.

rc ¼ 3:4538 e0:0008 UPV y ð10Þ

Fig. 16 shows the flexural strength (ft) of the brick units
obtained from the 3-point bending test plotted against the UPV
measurements. Similar to the compressive strength, an exponen-
tial correlation is obtained between ft and UPVx as shown in
Fig. 16 and Eq. (11) with R2 = 0.38.

f t ¼ 1:317e0:0005UPVx ð11Þ
Since the UPV measurements across the wall thickness using
direct transmission method are the most likely on-site measure-
ment practice, the proposed Eqs. (5a), (5b), (10) and (11) are used
to predict rc and ft values of clay bricks for a range of UPVz
between 1000 m/s and 2750 m/s. The estimated rc and ft are plot-
ted against the corresponding UPV readings in Fig. 16.
The accuracy of the predicted rc and ft from Fig. 17 is further
checked with the UPV readings for the old and new bricks. UPVz
readings of 1500 m/s and 2200 m/s were estimated (using Eq. 4b
and average UPVy value) for the old and new bricks, respectively.
From Fig. 17, the compressive and flexural strength of old bricks Fig. 16. Correlation between flexural strength and UPV.
rc,o and ft,o for the UPVz value of 1500 m/s are predicted as
25 MPa and 3.2 MPa, respectively. Similarly, the compressive and
flexural strength of new bricks rc,n and ft,n are predicted as
45 MPa and 4.38 MPa, respectively. The predicted rc,o and rc,n val-
ues for old and new bricks seems to be within the range of the
average compressive strength of similar bricks found in the exper-
iment. The ft,n value of the new bricks (9.7% of the compressive
strength) were closely predicted by Fig. 17. However, the ft,o value
of the old bricks (12.8% of the compressive strength) predicted by
Fig. 17 were conservative, which is still above 10% of the compres-
sive strength limit.

Fig. 17. Strength vs UPVz of clay bricks.

4. Conclusion

This paper investigated the compressive and flexural strength of

Fig. 14. Correlation between dry density and compressive strength.
nine different series of old and new clay bricks used in Western
Australia. The old bricks of the age range of 25–50 years were col-
lected from four different buildings sites in the Perth metro region
while the new bricks were collected directly from a brick manufac-
turer. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) of the bricks were measured
in all three directions, parallel and normal to bed joint and parallel
to wall thickness. Compressive and flexural strength testing of the
120 S. Noor-E-Khuda, F. Albermani / Construction and Building Materials 219 (2019) 111–120
old and new series of bricks was performed. The following conclu-
sions were drawn from the study:

The UPV measurements varied for the different series of bricks.
The RS-series and O-series bricks were recorded with the high-
est UPV reading of 3407 ± 91 m/s and the lowest UPV reading of
2340 ± 204 m/s, respectively. The average UPV reading taken on
the new bricks were 26% higher than that of the old bricks.

The average compressive strength of the new bricks was 121%
higher than the old bricks. The average compressive strength
of the new and old bricks was as 45.15 ± 11.7 MPa and
20.43 ± 6.16 MPa, respectively. The RS-Series bricks recorded
the highest compressive strength of 61.55 ± 5.6 MPa while the
O-series bricks recorded the lowest compressive strength of
16.18 ± 2.79 MPa.

Flexural strength of the new bricks was 15% lower than the old
bricks. The average flexural strength recorded of the old bricks
is, 5.11 ± 1.9 MPa, which is approx. 25% of its compressive
strength. Flexural strength of the new bricks (9.7%) were within
the acceptable limit of 10% of the compressive strength. The
flexural strength of the RS-series and A-series bricks were
recorded with the highest value of 6.45 ± 0.6 MPa and the low-
est value of 2.42 ± 0.62 MPa, respectively.

The old bricks demonstrated higher anisotropy than the new
bricks.

A common correlation between UPV and the compressive and
flexural strength of the new and old bricks was established. Fur-
thermore, correlations between UPV measurements from differ-
ent directions were also presented. This can help in predicting
the UPV, and hence compressive and flexural strength, of clay
bricks during its service life.
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge NSRG Fund provided by
CQUniversity which was used in the purchase of the UPV equip-
ment. The authors would also like to thank Mr Idrees Rehman for
the kind assistance in conducting the experimental work and Mr
Jayah Clair of Midland Bricks for the technical support. The authors
gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Midland Bricks for the
experimental support and supply of test materials.
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