Lecture 4

Joints and linear units

Jointing:
- Joints are the connections between two separate units similar in material.
- Joints occur where the building elements meet, and it has a great effect on the
appearance of the façade.
- The grid of the joints is determined by the dimensions of the elements
- To avoid damage during assembly, joints must be made with great care.
- Joints serve to take up the dimensional differences in building elements, and should fulfill
the moisture, thermal and acoustic protection.
- It can be protected against moisture by constructional solutions or by sealants.
- Jointing must be considered during the detail design process.
- The total number of joints depends on the number of prefabricated elements, and it can
be reduced by using high prefabricated elements that is with large scale.
- The success or failure of the prefabrication process depends mainly on the jointing
system.

- The type of joints is determined according to :

• Its location in the building
• The type of forces acting on it (pressure, tensile, torsion forces)
- The shape and design of joints and the adhesive material affect the time needed to treat
it on site.
Linear Units:
- The use of linear units started from the ancient eras when the ancient human used the
tree branches and stems to make pillars to form the roof of the huts on them and then
cover it with animal skin or plants.
- Until iron appeared and was used as a structural material and making skeleton building
with structural frame.
- This method appeared in Chicago in USA, after the great fire that broke out in 1871, and
after that they had to renew all the country with new building methods.
- This construction was known as “Chicago structural establishment”
- The application of longitudinal iron modules has great impact on the possibility of:
• Increasing the height of the buildings.
• Providing large and spacious interior spaces.

- The use of prefabricated reinforced concrete linear units started to spread after the
second world war.
- It is considered as a common method for commercial buildings, office buildings and
public buildings. (As this method gives high flexibility in interior spaces)

- Structural linear units such as columns and beams do not

form a closed space.
- After assembling they need other complementary
elements to form the space such as:
• Planar units such as walls and ceilings.
• Linear units that combine next to each other to form
the required space.
- This type is common in our time because it gives flexibility
in interior design and modifying.

- The structural idea of linear units:

• They are modular linear units, prefabricated in the factory or in a place designated
for them on the site.
• These units can be made of iron or reinforced concrete.
• Then they are transferred to the site to be assembled by one of the methods of
joints, whether wet or dry, to form the structural skeleton of the building.
• Then the other complementary units are left to close the different spaces. (Either
from prefabricated concrete units, or any other material to separate interior spaces
in case of non-load bearing walls)
• When using prefabricated slabs, they must be casted in a way that enables them to
bear the loads.
 • These units differ in weight and size depending on:
▪ Implementing factory
▪ Design planned for them
▪ Space size required to be configured
• The process of assembling units take great time to implement due to large number
of used units, which result in a large number of connections, so it need large
number of labor.
• However, this process don’t need heavy equipments and machinery and this helps
reduce total costs.

- There are two types of linear units: Structural and Non-structural.

Structural units:

- Columns and beams that form the structural skeleton of the building
- These units could be: Iron, Reinforced concrete, Pre-stressed concrete.
- In this case the units’ sectors are small.
- These units is assembled to handle the joints that differ according to types of forces.
- Other construction units to close the spaces, could be linear and placed next to each
other to form the ceilings.

Non- structural units:

- These elements are suitable for nonstructural walls, only to separate between spaces
inside the building and sometimes used for thermal or sound insulations or any other
purposes.
- They are placed: between columns and external filler walls, or as interior walls to define
interior spaces.
- These units can be light units but should be designed to bear forces that they are
exposed to during the transportation and assembling.