Kuldeep Singh - Answers
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Which one should be stronger brick or brick bond?
Kuldeep Singh
I completely disagree with a previous answer given by someone. There is a famous saying in brick masonry that "Mortar must never be stronger than bricks." It is crucial for the bond to be weaker than the brick from both a strength and a durability point of view. Walls where the mortar was stronger,Read more
I completely disagree with a previous answer given by someone. There is a famous saying in brick masonry that “Mortar must never be stronger than bricks.” It is crucial for the bond to be weaker than the brick from both a strength and a durability point of view. Walls where the mortar was stronger, eventually break up on their own with time without extra forces applied.
First, you must understand that nobody is trying to break your wall. The extra loads, in addition to compressive loads from the top, are only due to minor movements from temperature changes, structural settlement, etc. and lateral forces. Even though you do make a stronger mortar, breaking won’t be significantly toughened.
Now, coming to the actual reasons, the joints must be weaker because of the wall cracks or breaks, it should preferably do so trough the mortar than the bricks because mortar will be easier and cheaper to repair. Also, if bricks break, the whole wall could come down, but mortar won’t break at all places in the wall. Also, rich and strong mortars tend to be rigid against minor movements and are comparative more vulnerable to initiate cracks as a consequence.
Secondly, from a durability standpoint, it is even more important to have a weaker mortar. If there’s hard and dense mortar around porous open textured bricks, the bricks absorb moisture more readily during rains. Now when the weather improves, bricks can’t dry up freely from all sides because of hard imporous mortar surrounding. This water retained in the blocks weakens them. Further, if there’s extreme cold, freezing and thawing will cause the bricks to split and break, which can be catastrophic. If we have a weaker mortar, water will take a path, thought it.
So, you need a weaker bond and stronger brick so as to protect the bricks from failing rather than the mortar because it will be more catastrophic and expensive.
See lessWhat is the compressive strength of Fe500 rebars?
Kuldeep Singh
It is generally assumed to be 250 MPa.
It is generally assumed to be 250 MPa.
See lessWhy we provide Anchor Bar in a single RC beam?
Kuldeep Singh
It is done for two reasons : To provide support for lateral reinforcement or shear reinforcement in the form of stirrups so they could be held in place. When sufficient bond strength is not available due to insufficient development length, Anchorage bars are used to add up to the development lengthRead more
It is done for two reasons :
What is fatigue in any structural member?
Kuldeep Singh
Fatigue is the gradual and progressive weakening of a structural member due to prolonged cyclic loading-unloading of the member for a large number of times at stress levels fairly below the ultimate strength or ultimate stress of the member. It is important to note that fatigue doesn't weaken the maRead more
Fatigue is the gradual and progressive weakening of a structural member due to prolonged cyclic loading-unloading of the member for a large number of times at stress levels fairly below the ultimate strength or ultimate stress of the member.
It is important to note that fatigue doesn’t weaken the material due to the prolonged loading but due to multiple reversals of stress and strain for often around a million times.
Initially, micro cracks begin to appear. Now, it is known that stress concentration happens at these microcracks and all sharp openings, slots, and edges. The stresses at these spots can be 3 to 15 times that of the stress applied. This progresses the cracks. Gradually they keep building up till the material fails at the number of cycles depending on the magnitude of the load.
Though, below a certain threshold level of stress, fatigue failure doesn’t happen even at an infinite number of cycles. This stress level is called the endurance limit or fatigue limit. The number of cycles to failure decreases exponentially with increasing stress till it becomes one at the ultimate stress of the member
See lessWhat is Particulate Matter 10 (PM 10) in Air?
Kuldeep Singh
PM10 is particulate matter present in the air, which is 10 microns or less in size (diameter). It remains suspended in the air and is very inhalable. Toxic levels in the air can cause serious health problems. It's mostly made up of solids and aerosols composed of small droplets of liquid, dry solidRead more
PM10 is particulate matter present in the air, which is 10 microns or less in size (diameter). It remains suspended in the air and is very inhalable. Toxic levels in the air can cause serious health problems.
It’s mostly made up of solids and aerosols composed of small droplets of liquid, dry solid fragments, and solid cores with liquid fragments.
For measurements, you can refer to the following link. I found it comprehensive :
How to detect, collect and analyse aerosol particles.
See lessWhy Earth pressure at rest is used for basement slab wall, bridge abutment?
Kuldeep Singh
Earth pressure at rest is used for the design of underground structures, be abutments, etc. because it is expected that there would be no lateral displacement in the soil mass after construction is complete and during the life of the structure. Also, if you test the earth pressure in the field arounRead more
Earth pressure at rest is used for the design of underground structures, be abutments, etc. because it is expected that there would be no lateral displacement in the soil mass after construction is complete and during the life of the structure.
Also, if you test the earth pressure in the field around these structures, it matches very well with the calculated earth pressure at rest for normally consolidated soils.
See lessWhy abutment in bridge is designed as earth pressure and rest condition?
Kuldeep Singh
Earth pressure at rest is used for the design of underground structures, be abutments, etc. because it is expected that there would be no lateral displacement in the soil mass after construction is complete and during the life of the structure. Also, if you test the earth pressure in the field arounRead more
Earth pressure at rest is used for the design of underground structures, be abutments, etc. because it is expected that there would be no lateral displacement in the soil mass after construction is complete and during the life of the structure.
Also, if you test the earth pressure in the field around these structures, it matches very well with the calculated earth pressure at rest for normally consolidated soils.
See lessWhat are the benefits of T-beam in building compare to the ordinary beam?
Kuldeep Singh
T-beams are generally preferred to rectangular beams and L-beams. First of all, it performs better in bending since it has a higher second moment of inertia. The compressive load on the slab is shared by the flange of the T-beam (because it is cast monolithically with the slab), which increases theRead more
T-beams are generally preferred to rectangular beams and L-beams.
First of all, it performs better in bending since it has a higher second moment of inertia. The compressive load on the slab is shared by the flange of the T-beam (because it is cast monolithically with the slab), which increases the moment of resistance. This also reduces the need for additional compression reinforcement at the top. Rectangular beams are only singly reinforced in our textbooks. In practice, rectangular beams have to be reinforced doubly. Still, T-beams don’t need to.
The flange is more effective in bending and providing ductility. The web is more effective in shear. If you look at the stress distribution diagram of a T-beam, you’ll see that the bending stress is distributed more in the flange and shear stress more on the web. Hence, the resulting bending+shear is lower for any cross-section than in rectangular beams, where the two add up.
Due to the above two points, deflection is significantly reduced in the case of T-beams.
Also, we know that the concrete below the neutral axis is hardly contributing to the beam strength since it’s in tension. So why not remove it? The moment of resistance will be comparable for a rectangular beam and a T-beam with the same depth. Hence, T-beams are always more economical than rectangular beams. In fact, it is the least expensive among the common beam shapes except for box girders used in bridge decks.
T-beams have a lesser volume of concrete. Also, they reduce the floor to floor height since the flange is already part of the slab. These two things in combination significantly reduce the concrete required for the building, cutting down both cost and dead weight.
Lastly, T-beams are more convenient for pre-fabrication buildings.
See less