A THIN WALL EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT BRICK BUILDING SYSTEM

Abstract

Load bearing brick masonry wall construction is probably the most common type of construction in almost all the developing countries, the reasons may be the availability of material, the ease of construction, comparatively low cost of construction and the ability to insulate the weather conditions. In India also, construction in ordinary brick masonry, in various, types of mortars is still very much in vogue. Study of past earthquakes shows that brick masonry constructions have suffered lot of damage during these earthquakes. This is because of their heavy weight, low tensile strength and large stiffness resulting in sh"rt time periods. Therefore brick masonry structures if constructed in seismic areas, should be made strong-enough to withstand earthquake forces. But a strong point behind the popularity of this construction is it's lcw cost, therefore, the strengthening measures adopted should not increase the cost of construction too much. Also at the present times, there is a need to save building materials like cement, brick, timber and steel, because of their shortage and increasing demand of more and more houses. Hence the challange before the building engineers is to evolve ways and means of not only strengthening but also ecncmising in brick masonry construction.