High‐rise concrete and clay block masonry building in Brazil

Brazilian structural concrete and clay block masonry construction shares many common features with construction all over the world: blocks of a similar shape are bedded in mortar, vertical and horizontal reinforcement is placed in grouted cells, engineering analysis and design follows universal principles and local design codes mimic those adopted elsewhere. However, loadbearing masonry construction in Brazil has become one of the most preferred high‐rise building systems due to its cost‐effectiveness and ease of construction compared to normal reinforced concrete solutions. This paper provides an overview of loadbearing masonry building in Brazil, including case studies on notable high‐rise masonry structures, with an overview of how Brazilian materials, codes and practices differ from the rest of the world. Finally, the paper explains how the use of high‐strength units assists the growing demand for taller and taller buildings and provides insight into why owners and general contractors often prefer to use structural masonry.     

Tragverhalten von geschichteten Deckenelementen aus Normal‐ und Porenleichtbeton

Load bearing behaviour of layered ceiling elements made of regular and porous lightweight concrete Lightweight and efficiently bearing steel reinforced elements may be achieved through the application of regular and porous concrete in a three‐layer cross‐section. While exterior layers of higher strength carry bending moments, a lightweight core layer material holds up to shear stresses. In order to quantify the potential of this construction method, the bearing behaviour of 18 layered ceiling elements with six different geometries was investigated. The goals were both to identify different failure modes, as well as evaluate the suitability of commonly used calculation procedures. The following paper shows that an optimal usage of cross‐sections of ceiling elements can already achieved by using concrete with strengths between 5 MN/m² and 20 MN/m². The efficiently bearing elements are characterized by the fact, that both the concrete, the reinforcing steel and the layer's interface are highly stressed both under pressure and tension. The tested specimens showed both a tensile bending and interface failure with a partly very high utilization of the flexural compressive zone.     

Zentrische Druckversuche an schlanken UHPC‐Stützen

Axial compression tests on slender columns – unreinforced slender columns: a taboo? – Debate on potential and risk Within the project of the Priority Programme (SPP) 1542 ”Concrete light“, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), unreinforced UHPC columns with square and rectangular cross‐section were tested under axial compression in the subproject ”Cross sectional adaption for rod‐shaped elements in compression“. The results were compared with test series of other researchers. The focus of the study was on the buckling behavior of columns with different conditions of end support. A hinged and a fixed support have been applied for these experiments. In addition to an analysis of the failure process, the results were compared with the Euler buckling load and the normal stress in consideration of second‐order effects. Concluding, advantages and disadvantages of both approaches are presented, compared, and discussed.