BUILDING MATERIALS AND

CONSTRUCTION V

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RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS …
• In India, there are various research and development organizations
associated with construction industry , by creating new materials
and systems. Few of them are follows,
• CBRI – Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee,
• SERC – Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai
• BMTPC - Building Materials & Technology Promotion
Council, New Delhi.
• INSWAREB - Institute for Solid Waste Research & Ecological
Balance , Visakhapatnam.
• AVBC - Auroville Building Centre, Auroville
• CIMFRI – Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research ,
Dhanbad, Jharkhand
• RRL - Regional Research Laboratory ,Trivandrum
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CBRI ,Roorkee …
• Started in 1947, one among the Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research organizations , funded by the Ministry of Science and
Technology.

CBRI – Main Focus Areas

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CBRI … New Building Materials
• Plastic building products
• Recycling and reuse of plastic wastes
• Weathering of plastics/ composites
• Timber substitutes
• Polymers in construction
• Polymer composites based on natural
• synthetic fibers
• Polymer modified bitumen
• Water proofing compound etc .

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CBRI … Disaster Mitigation
• Testing of models and prototype structural elements
• Fire resistance of building elements and passive fire protection
systems
• Fire spread modeling & simulation
• Fire behavior of building materials
• Fire retardant coatings and materials.
• Fire extinguishment
• Enclosure fire and response of heat sensitive devices
• Use of nanotechnology in the development of fire retardant
materials etc.

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CBRI … Energy Efficient Buildings
• Development of guidelines for green and energy efficient
buildings . Development of low cost technologies for EWS.
• Thermal performance of building components and evaluation of
thermal properties of building materials
• Solar energy applications in buildings passive heating and cooling
of buildings.
CBRI … Health monitoring and Rehabilitation of structures
• Suitable recommendations for repair & protective measures
• Repair & rehabilitation of expansion joint in buildings
• Repair & coating materials
• Development of cathodic protection system for prevention of
corrosion of reinforcing bars in RCC structures etc.

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SERC ,Chennai …
• Started in 1965, one among the Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research organizations , funded by the Ministry of Science and
Technology.
• Research and Development efforts at CSIR-SERC deal with
development of improved analysis, design and construction
techniques for different types of complex structures such as shell
roofs, transmission line and microwave towers and other tower-like
structures, ships, offshore structures and machine foundations.
• High strength deformed bars, funicular shells, fibre reinforced
concrete manhole covers, ferrocement water tanks, service core
units, etc., developed by the Centre have been extensively used in
many organizations in the country.
• Computer based software packages have been developed for
computer-aided analysis, design and drafting of various structures
and structural components.
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SERC … R & D focus areas
• Structural Concrete Engineering & Technology
• Sustainable Materials and Composites &
retrofitting/Rehabilitation of Structures
• Computational Structural Mechanics for Analysis and Design,
Modelling Simulation & Software Development
• Transmission line towers, Metal Structure Behavior and Fatigue
and Fracture
• Structural Health Monitoring and Evaluation & Forensic Analysis
• Wind Engineering and Earthquake Engineering

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BMPTC …
• In order to bridge the gap between research and development and
large scale application of new building material technologies, the
erstwhile ministry of urban development, government of India, had
established the building materials and technology promotion
council in July 1990.
• Skill upgradation of professionals and construction workers through
capacity building programmes, training programmes, seminars,
conferences, workshops, exhibitions nationally as well as
internationally.
• Major Focus areas includes ,
• Building Materials & Construction Technologies
• Disaster mitigation and management
• Capacity Building & Skill Development
• Project management and consultancy
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BMPTC … R & D Areas
• Environment Friendly Materials & Techniques
• Building Material from Recycled Waste
• Building Materials and Technologies Identified, Assessed and
Promoted
• Technologies Commercialized
• Projects Endeavour towards construction of model
demonstration houses
• Cost - Effective Technologies For Common Man
• Techno Economic Feasibility Reports
• Housing Design Package
• Green construction practices

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FERROCEMENT …
• “ Ferro cement “ is a type of thin wall reinforced concrete,
commonly constructed of hydraulic cement mortar, reinforced with
closely spaced layers of continuous and relatively small size wire
mesh. The mesh may be made of metallic or other suitable material.
• Cement mortar is reinforced with layers of continuous and small
diameter wire meshes
• Mortar provides the mass and wire mesh imparts tensile strength
and ductility
• Italian engineer Pier Liugie Nervi is credited with inventing ferro
cement in the 1940’s.
• Uses for Ferro-cement are walls, floors, and roofs, underground
structures, chimneys , underground water tanks, water control
devices, retaining walls, stairways built over adobe blocks etc.

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FERROCEMENT … Properties
• It is very durable, cheap and versatile material.
Thickness – 10mm to 60mm
• Low water cement ratio produces impermeable
structures.
• Less shrinkage, and low weight.
• High tensile strength of 34.5 N/mm²
• Allowable tensile strength – 10 N/mm²
• Better impact and punching shear resistance.
• Undergo large deformation before cracking or
high deflection.
• Steel – 5 to 8% , Steel cover – 1.5mm to 5mm.
• Compressive strength – 27.5 to 60 N/mm²

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FERROCEMENT … Advantages
• It is highly versatile and can be formed into almost any shape.
• 20% savings on materials and cost , Suitability for pre-casting
• Flexibility in cutting, drilling and jointing
• Very appropriate for developing countries; labor intensive
• Good fire resistance and impermeability, Low maintenance costs .
• Thin elements and light structures, reduction in self weight   & Its
simple techniques require a minimum of skilled labor.
• Reduction in expensive form work so economy & speed can be
achieved . Few tools are required .
• Structures are highly waterproof  & Higher strength to weight ratio
than R.C.C.
• Widely used in the construction of buildings in earthquake prone
areas.
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FERROCEMENT … Disadvantages
• Low shear strength
• Low ductility
• Susceptibility to stress rupture failure
• It can be punctured by collision with pointed objects.
• Corrosion of the reinforcing material due to the incomplete
coverage of metal by mortar.
• It is difficult to fasten to ferrocement with bolt, screw, welding and
nail etc.
• Large no of skilled labors required
• Tying rods and mesh together is especially tedious and time
consuming.

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FERROCEMENT … Materials
• Cement mortar mix
• Skeleton steel
• Steel mesh reinforcement or Fibre-reinforced polymeric meshes

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Cement mortar mix …
• Ordinary Portland cement and fine aggregate (sand ) matrix are
used.
• The matrix constitutes 95% cement mortar & 5% wire mesh of the
composite.
• FA (sand), occupies 60 to 75% of the volume of the mortar
• Plasticizers and other admixtures are used.
Mix proportions
• Sand: cement ratio (by mass)  1.5 to 2.5
• Water: cement ratio (by mass)  0.35 to 0.60
Sand
• confirming to zone-I or Zone-II (concreting purpose )
• free from impurities
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 Water
• Free from salts and organic impurities
• Minimum to achieve desired workability
• pH equal or greater than 7

Skeleton Steel …
• It supports the steel wire mesh Skeleton steel
• 3 to 8 mm steel rods are used
• Thickness varies from 6-20mm according to loading condition
• Generally mild steel or Fe 415 or Fe 500 bars are used
• Spacing 7.5cm to 12m
• Used to impart structural strength in case of boats, barges etc.
• Reinforcement should be free from dust, rust and other impurities.

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Steel Mesh Reinforcement …
• MS wires of 2 – 6mm dia. at 100 – 150 mm interval in a grid form.
• Wire meshes: Woven mesh(GI / MS of 1 – 1.5mm dia. Spaced at 6
– 20mm in a grid form)
• Chicken mesh (GI hexagonal mesh of 10 – 20mm made of wire of
0.5 – 1mm dia.).
• Welded wire mesh has hexagonal or rectangular openings.
• Expanded metal mesh (Diamond shaped openings of 20 – 25mm).

Hexagonal shaped chicken mesh

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Types of Wire Mesh

Typical steel mesh reinforcement

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Types of Wire Mesh

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Typical cross-sections of Ferro cement

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FERROCEMENT … Construction methods

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FERROCEMENT … Construction Method – Preparation

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FERROCEMENT … Construction Method

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FERROCEMENT … Construction Method - Casting

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FERROCEMENT … Construction Method

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FERROCEMENT … Construction Methods - Curing

• Ferrocement structures gain sufficient strength in about one weeks

time, curing should be done for about 26 days. If concrete dries
before this period it will not reach maximum strength.
• The structure can be covered with jute cloth and periodically the
jute wetted with water
• Curing the structure 3 times in a day, gives the structure more
strength .
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FERROCEMENT … Casting Methods
There are four methods of casting are as given below :
• Hand plastering
• Semi-mechanised process
• Centrifuging
• Gunting.

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Hand plastering
• In this method the control of thickness is difficult and the minimum
thickness of section that can be cast works out to about 20 mm.
• The strength obtained by this system will be lower compared to
other methods .
• These units can be used for pipes , storage structures and gasholder
units.
• disadvantages is that non-uniform thickness and non-compaction of
mortar.

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Semi-mechanised process ( developed by SERC )
• The uniformity of thickness can be achieved better than the earlier
system.
• The advantages of this system are that it does not require any
sophisticated equipment or electricity.
• The thickness of minimum 10 mm can be casted.

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• S.E.R.C. has developed a semi-mechanised process for producing
ferroment cylindrical units used as walls for grain storage bins,
water tanks, septic tanks , biogas digesters, tree guards etc.
• In the casting process, a continuous winding of wiremesh from a
wiremesh roll on to a cylindrical mould and simultaneous
application of cement mortar on the wiremesh as and when it is
wound on the mould is achieved.
• This permit a high degree of compaction of mortar and good
control over thickness.
• The process is simple, labour intensive and does not require electric
power, fuel, expensive machinery or highly skilled technical
manpower.
• The equipment could be fabricated in a small workshop having
welding, cutting, drilling and grinding facilities.

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Centrifuging
• The centrifuging process is commonly adopted for the fabrication
of concrete cylindrical units.
• Because of good compaction , the ferrocement pipe cast by
centrifuging can be used as pressure pipes.
• This process creates much uniform casting of mortar.

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Guniting
• The process of guniting can be adopted for applying the mortar to
the wire mesh system.
• This process applied with experienced gunman can give good
compact and uniform surface.
• This appears to be suitable process for mass production of
ferrocement prefabricated units.

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FERROCEMENT … Application
Marine Applications
• Boats, fishing vessels, barges, cargo tugs, flotation buoys
• Key criteria for marine applications: light weight, impact
resistance, thickness and water tightness
Water supply and sanitation
• Water tanks, sedimentation tanks, swimming pool linings, well
casings, septic tanks etc.
Agricultural
• Grain storage bins, silos, canal linings, pipes, shells for fish and
poultry farms
Residential Buildings
• Houses, ducts , precast housing elements, corrugated roofing
sheets, wall panels etc.
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FERROCEMENT … Application
Rural Energy
• Biogas digesters, biogas holders, incinerators, panels for solar
energy collectors etc.
Miscellaneous uses
• Mobile homes , Kiosks , Bus shelters
• Wind tunnel
• Silos and bins
• pedestrian bridges
• soil stabilization
• Precast ferrocement structures
• Boats, fishing vessels,
• Barges, cargo tugs
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FERROCEMENT VS FERROCRETE

• Cover to reinforcement - 2.5 mm to 5 mm

• Fine aggregate - particle size 400 micron to 3mm
• No coarse aggregate.

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FERROCEMENT VS RCC

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THANK YOU
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