Author

BANSAL, D.
IEI (INDIA), CEAI, ISWE, IASE,BIS, HUDCO, Hudco Bhawan, Delhi, India

Abstract

This paper is motivated by the urgent need to identify, innovative technologies to supplement age-old concrete and brick & mortar based construction for masonry work. Current times require technologies which are sustainable in terms of one or more of the following parameters i.e. use of locally available resources – material & manpower, cost effectiveness, eco-friendly, easy to adopt in construction practice, can be cast – in situ to reduce transportation, faster to build and energy efficient.
Interlocking block masonry by Hydraform (or by others) is one such building system which almost fullfills all such requirements of being a sustainable masonry. It has been tested in the field as well as by experiments and has been found to be stronger than conventional brick masonry using cement sand mortar (1 cement : 6 sand). The basic compressive stress achieved is higher than the minimum values given in the Indian masonry design standard (IS 1905-1987).
However, the Indian masonry design standard (IS 1905-1987) does not deal with dry interlocking block masonry, hence does not prescribe design values such as basic compressive stress, tensile stress & shear stress for this masonry. However the same code recognizes some other types of masonry and recommends that a prism test from alternative masonries may be undertaken and these values may be accepted for designing the masonry.
This paper addresses the technical specifications, raw material options, mix designs, construction procedure, and conformity with the building standards. It further presents case studies, cost efficiency and testing procedure.

Key words
Interlocking, block, India, dry-stack