CIVE334/444

Structural Steelwork, Timber and Masonry

Lecture 10 - Masonry Material Properties and

How it is Used

Lecturer: Dr. Vasileios (Vasilis) Kamperidis

Email: V.Kamperidis@liverpool.ac.uk
Tel. (office): 0151 794 5222 (ext.) or 45222 (int.)
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Clay Bricks - 1
Types of bricks
There are literally thousands
of different bricks – reduce basic
types. The vast majority are made
from clay and are kiln-fried.

Facing Bricks
Quality, durable bricks with an
attractive appearance for
external use above ground.

Stress concentration
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Clay Bricks - 1
Wirecut
The clay is continuously extruded to a required size and
shape and then cut into individual bricks by means of a
wire. Usually the cheapest facings available since the
manufacturing process is highly automated.

e.g. London Stock

Also:
1. Stock
2. Handmade
3. Fletton

made from lower Oxford clay

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Clay Bricks - 2
Commons
A cheap ‘fill’ brick, designed to be
utilitarian rather than attractive. They
are perfectly fine for smaller jobs.

Engineering
The workhorses of the brick family.
Tough, strong, hard-wearing but
not usually very pretty. Excellent
resistance to frost & water, ideal
for groundworks, sewer works,
retaining walls. Pay for performance
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Clay Bricks - 3
Reclaimed
Salvaged bricks – rescued from old
buildings and cleaned up.
Know what you are looking for and
make sure to get decent quality
rather than any old dross, so buy
through a reputable merchant.
Wastage, not good outlook, old
imperial sizes (2 5/8” or 3”), can cost
twice the price of a quality facing or
‘reproduction’ reclaimed (due to
cleaning and sorting).
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Clay Bricks - 4
Specials
Any brick that isn’t a rectangle.
“standard specials” – bullnoses,
cants and radials
“special specials” - cills and quoins

These specials allow fantastic

designs and make brickwork the
most aesthetically pleasing.

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Calcium Silicate and Concrete
Concrete or Calcium Silicate
Popular in places where good brick-making clay is
scarce.

Some looks awful, but others may be split-faced or

have a pitched face to make them looks better.

Cheap

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Concrete Blocks - 1

Solid blocks without voids

(Group 1)

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Concrete Blocks - 1
Cellular blocks – contain one
or more formed voids which
do not fully penetrate the
block (Group 1 or Group 2,
down to void ratio)

Hollow blocks – contain one or

more formed voids which fully
penetrate the block (Group 1
or Group 2, down to void ratio)

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Concrete Blocks - 2

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Brick Manufacturer’s –
Technical Details
Engineering Bricks

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Wall Ties - 1

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Wall Ties - 2

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Practical examples of wall Ties

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Practical examples of wall Ties

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Damp Proof Course (DPC)

EPDM - Ethylene-Propylene-
Diene-Monomer

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Bed Reinforcement

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Windposts and Parapet Posts

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Reinforced Masonry

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Pointing
Pointing ensures the bed joints and
perpends are properly filled with
mortar. Pointing is usually undertaken
an hour or so after the bricks have
been laid. The unpointed joints can be
topped up with fresh mortar before
tooling to the required style.
Weatherstruck/Flush - with the blade
of a trowel
Bucket handle – a semi-circular
section jointing bar
Recess – a joint raker
The most common
Weatherstruck & Bucket handle offer pointing styles
better resistance to rain penetration. 20
5 minute break

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 Brick Dimensions - 1
The UK modular format: standard
brick size 215x102.5x65 mm (face x
bed x end). With a standard 10 mm
wide joint, gives a working size of
225mm x 75 mm

4 courses of bricks
(+bedding joints) gives a
total depth of 300 mm. 4
bricks in a line gives a width
of 900mm including the
perpends (vertical joints)

Using stretcher bond, there

are 60 bricks/m2 in a single
skin wall. 22
1/(0.225x0.075)
Brick Dimensions - 1

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Brick Dimensions - 2

UK standard-format brick: Brick CB.1.5 to BS4729

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Brick Dimensions - 2

UK standard-format brick: relation of header

to stretcher

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Brick Dimensions - 3

UK standard-format brick
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Grouping of Masonry Units

Group 1 – Solid of up to 25% voids 27

Grouping of Masonry Units

Group 2 – Over 25% voids

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Groups 3 & 4 – rarely used in the UK
Brickwork Bonding -1
Stretcher bond is the easiest bond to
lay and minimises the amount of
cutting required.
For single skin walls – quite easy
For a double skin wall – the two skins
are locked together across the collar
joint by means of wall ties.

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Brickwork Bonding -1
Header bond is not used as often as
stretcher one, but equally simple.
Impractical for single skin walls.
Popular for diaper work, where
patterns (usually diamonds or criss-
crosses) are picked out in bricks of
different colours.

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Brickwork Bonding - 2
English bond is one of the strongest
brickwork bond patterns, which is a
traditional one dating back 100s of years
and features alternating courses of
stretchers and headers.

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Brickwork Bonding - 2
Flemish bond features alternating
stretchers and headers within the
courses. This is a more decorative
pattern than English bond, especially
with the headers using a different
coloured bricks.

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Brickwork Bonding - 3
English Garden Wall Bond is a
simple variation of English bond,
where the header courses are
separated either 3 or 4 courses of
stretchers. There is also a
‘Scottish Bond’ featuring 5
courses of stretchers between
courses of headers.

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fk – Characteristic Compressive Strength of
Masonry

How many?

Related to clay type

Related to mortar

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 Design a masonry column

fb - Normalised Compressive Strength

To reduce the
over-estimated To increase the
strength under-estimated
strength

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K – Factor

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5 minute break

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Mortar - 1

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Mortar

• EC6 - 3 Types of Mortar

– General Purpose
– Thin Layer

– Lightweight

• fm = Characteristic Compressive Strength of Mortar

(N/mm2)
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• Based on tests on 40mm cube
Dry Silo Mortar

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Grouping of Masonry Units

Group 1 – Solid of up to 25% voids

Group 2 – Over 25% voids
Groups 3 & 4 – rarely used in the UK 41
 and  Factors – Mortar
Dependent

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43
fk – Characteristic Compressive Strength of Masonry
(Extended)

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Characteristic Strength (fk)- Worked Example

• Find the characteristic strength fk of masonry made from Group 1 clay

brick masonry units (Category II) of standard format size with an
actual compressive strength of 50 N/mm2. The masonry will be
constructed using M4 general purpose mortar using Class 2 execution
control.

• fk = K. fb.fm

• K = 0.5 (From Table NA.4)

•  = 0.85 for a standard 100mm wide by 65mm high brick

• fb = 0.85 x 50 N/mm2 = 42.5 N/mm2 45

forward
fd – Design Characteristic Compressive Strength
of Masonry

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Determine the characteristic compressive strength and the
design characteristic strength (fd) of masonry made from
Group 1 clay brick masonry units of standard format size
with a normalised compressive strength of 32 N/mm2. The
masonry will be constructed using M6 general purpose
mortar with Class 1 execution control.

f k  Kf b f m

Group 1 Clay Brick: K  0,5,   0, 7,   0,3

 m  2,3, f b  32 N / mm 2 , f m  6 N / mm 2

f k  0,5  320,7  60,3  9, 7 N / mm 2

9, 7
Thus f d   4, 2 N / mm 2
2,3 47
Determine the characteristic compressive strength and the
design characteristic strength (fd) of masonry made from
Group 2 clay brick masonry units of standard format size
with a normalised compressive strength of 32 N/mm2. The
masonry will be constructed using M12 general purpose
mortar with Class 2 execution control.

f k  Kf b f m

Group 1 Clay Brick: K  0, 4,   0, 7,   0,3

 m  2, 7, fb  32 N / mm 2 , f m  12 N / mm 2

f k  0, 4  320,7  120,3  9,5 N / mm 2

9,5
Thus f d   3,5 N / mm 2
2, 7 48
Category and Execution Control
Class
• Masonry units of Category I (probably of failure not exceeding 5%)
are made under stricter quality control conditions than Category II.

• Execution Control Class 2:

– All work on site properly supervised and carried out in accordance with EC6 Part 2
with attention to:

– Setting out

– Storage

– Batching, mixing and use of mortar

– Laying of masonry units

– Construction details

– Protection during construction 49

Deformation Properties of
Masonry -1
• Deformation of plain masonry – rarely needs calculating

> 1 or < 1?

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Deformation Properties of Masonry - 2

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Deformation Properties of
Masonry - 3

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Durability

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Masonry Problems - 1
• Efflorescence
– Unsightly crystalline or glassy deposit (usually white) left on surface of
clay or concrete masonry

– Caused by evaporation of water carrying soluble salts

– Usually temporary

– Can be removed with application of a weak acid wash

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Masonry Problems - 2
• Frost Damage

• Erosion of Natural Stone

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Some questions
• Why do we need wall ties?

• What is a typical space between wall ties?

• What is DPC and how far is away above ground?
• What are two better pointing styles to resist rain
penetration?
• What are characteristic compressive strength of mortar?

• How to work out design characteristic compressive

strength of masonry?
• Which is bigger, short-term modulus or long-term
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modulus?