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Uses and scope of masonry structures

Short answer

Masonry is used for load-bearing walls (up to 3 storeys), RC frame infill, foundations, arches, and boundary walls. It uses local materials, provides fire resistance and thermal insulation, and needs low maintenance, but has low tensile strength and requires reinforcement for seismic safety.

Explain the uses (scope and importance) of masonry structures, with neat sketches where needed.

Masonry is the construction of units (clay brick, stone, concrete or hollow block, compressed earth block) bound by mortar. It is the oldest and the most widely used building system in Nepal and South Asia, especially for low and medium-rise buildings.

Uses

  1. Load-bearing walls in houses, schools and hospitals (up to 2 to 3 storeys in Nepal, NBC 202 and NBC 109), which carry floor and roof loads to the foundation.
  2. Infill and partition walls in RC frames, for enclosure, privacy, and sound and fire separation.
  3. Foundations, plinth and retaining walls, boundary walls, parapets and compound walls.
  4. Special structures: arches, domes, chimneys, culverts, bridge piers and abutments, dams, water tanks and monuments.
  5. Cladding and finishing: exposed brick facades and flooring.

Importance and advantages

  • Locally available and cheap materials; labour with simple tools; easy to learn.
  • Good fire resistance, thermal and sound insulation, and durability.
  • Walls serve as structure, enclosure and insulation at once.
  • Good compressive strength, pleasing appearance, and low maintenance.
  • Materials can be reused, and the carbon footprint is lower than that of concrete.

Limitations

Masonry has low tensile and shear strength, heavy self-weight, and brittle failure in earthquakes (the 2015 Gorkha earthquake showed the damage to un-reinforced masonry in mud mortar). Hence reinforced and confined masonry with bands (NBC 105 and NBC 202) and sound design to IS 1905 are used.

   ======== roof slab ========
      |   |   |   |   |      load path:
      | brick wall    |      roof -> wall
      |   |   |   |   |      -> footing -> soil
   ---+---+---+---+---+---
     [    footing    ]
   /////////////////////

✓ Answer checked by Claude Sonnet 5.5

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