Development of Innovative Light Weight Material as Infill Wall System in Frame Structure

Abstract

Provision of cost effective yet high performance/ efficient building solution has become a real challenge in construction industry due to an unusual upward trend in the cost during recent years. Hence, there is a need to adopt certain measures for achieving economy in construction of residential buildings without compromising quality, proper engineering standards, and safety considerations. With an aim to carryout efficient construction of multistoried residential Reinforced Concrete buildings, potential for economical construction has been explored by minimizing superimposed dead loads on the structure through use of light weight nonstructural elements. Structural loads define the nature and magnitude of external forces or hazards that a building must resist to provide reasonable performance in terms of safety and serviceability. Typically, building structures are designed to withstand effects of both gravity and lateral loads. In addition to self-weight, structures are also subjected to loads from permanent partition walls, fixed permanent fixtures/equipment, floor surfacing materials, roof insulation/water proofing and other finishing materials, all termed as non-structural components. One of these, are the partition walls that interact with the structural system and during earthquakes, these heavy infill walls due to their greater mass attract larger seismic force. In conventional construction, heavy infill walls in the form of clay bricks and Portland Cement Concrete blocks are common, resulting in increased gravity loads in earthquake zones. Moreover, to address the heavy superstructure loads, substructure is subjected to more demand, resulting in costly foundations. Various researchers have probed usage of different materials as infill wall extensively, to fully utilize their properties for sustainability and minimizing damage during earthquake incurred by out of plane infill masonry wall. In this research, potential for economical construction has been explored by minimizing superimposed dead loads on the structure through use of indigenously produced light weight nonstructural elements. Use of Cellular Light Weight (CLC) Blocks and Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Panels as replacement of heavy infill wall is comparatively a new idea. Potential advantage of using CLC blocks and EPS Panels as replacement of heavy infill wall includes reduction in self weight thus minimizing the requirement of heavy reinforcement, improved heat, sound insulation and speed of construction as well. CLC Blocks and EPS panels, with addition of pozzolanic mineral admixture like Fly Ash, have been explored for usage as part of infill walls. Mechanical, physical, functional properties and behavior of CLC Blocks and EPS Panels have been analyzed at the material and member level to ascertain their efficacy for large-scale use in multistoried buildings.