One view of conceptual design in architecture is as a negotiation between materials and forms. The process of configuring materials: organizing them, ordering them, arraying them emerges in the creative nature of design practice and the underpinnings of this process are embodied in the tools of architectural inquiry, traditionally: sketching, diagramming, modeling and drawing, and now in the di...

Masonry has low cohesive strength and is susceptible to the brittle failure, when subjected to induced tensile stresses. It fails due to lateral tensile stresses even when masonry prisms are tested in uni-axial static compression and the stress-strain curve remains almost linear up to failure. Although masonry normally resists compressive forces, under lateral in-plane cyclic loads some parts o...

Laboratory experimental data is often erroneous. This error is more apparent in data obtained from testing of anisotropic composite materials such as masonry wall panels. In this paper data colleted from the laboratory tests of masonry panels is presented. Methodologies for reducing (correcting) error in laboratory tested data are discussed. The concept of stiffness/strength corrector to model ...

Many single or multispan arch bridges are strengthened with the addition of some kind of structural support between adjacent arches of multispan or beside the arch barrel of a single span to increase the strength of the overall structure. It was traditionally formed by either placing loose rubble masonry blocks between the arches and beside the arches or using mortar or concrete to construct a ...

During the last decades natural polymers have become more and more frequent to replace traditional inorganic stabilizers in building materials. The purpose of this research is to establish a comparison between the most conventional building material solutions for load-bearing walls and a type of biomaterial. This comparison will focus on load-bearing walls as used in a widespread type of twenti...

Masonry in one form or another is used in most areas of the world that are prone to interplate or intraplate earthquakes. Masonry structures constructed from traditionally fired or stone bricks have one characteristic that sets them apart from most other structures. If a masonry building is well constructed, it can last for millenniums. Research in the field of Damage Mechanics has identified t...

We present a micromanufacturing method for constructing microsystems, which we term ‘micro-masonry’ based on individual manipulation, influenced by strategies for deterministic materials assembly using advanced forms of transfer printing. Analogous to masonry in construction sites, micro-masonry consists of the preparation, manipulation, and binding of microscale units to assemble microcomponen...

Strengthening of un-reinforced masonry (URM) structures to improve its seismic performance is not only well recognized among the research community but also getting attention of practicing engineers around the globe. The estimation of lateral capacity and performance of masonry becomes complex because of heterogeneous nature of its constituent materials and other associated problems. Heterogene...

In the strengthening interventions of past and historical masonry constructions, the non-standardized manufacture processes, the ageing and the damage of masonry units, could significantly affect the properties of the surfaces where strengthening materials are applied. This aspect requires particular care in evaluating the performance of externally bonded strengthening layers, especially with r...

4 FRP strengthening systems for infill masonry walls are typically designed to resist flexural stresses due to out-of5 plane pressure. Previous research has shown that there are potential premature failure mechanisms due to shear 6 sliding of the infill, which could reduce the effectiveness of the strengthening system. Current design guidelines for 7 strengthening of masonry walls with fiber-re...