Abstract

In developing countries masonry is still the most prevalent housing material, while a
renewed interest in the developed world has helped transform this ancient system into
an innovative engineering material with a variety of structural applications. Due to the
time-critical nature of the modern construction industry, there is a need to improve
upon traditional masonry construction methods, which are labour and time intensive.
The pursuit of this has led to the development of several nonconventional methods of
masonry construction, including a variety of mortarless systems.
This seminar report will explore the design and construction aspects of mortarless
masonry construction in comparison to traditional methods. An overview is presented
for the evolution of new techniques and advancements in the masonry field, in addition
to the different mortarless applications for various countries. Furthermore, a detailed
classification of mortarless masonry systems is offered, along with a review of the
behavior of some of these systems. A cost comparison between traditional
construction and a mortarless system indicates a reduction in labour costs and
construction time, which validates this new trend as a cost-effective alternative.
Introduction:-
The demand of houses for low to medium income population of the world has
exceeded more With the increase of construction materials costs such as cement, steel
and timber, contractors are not enthusiastic to build these houses on a tight budget.
The construction method of using conventional bricks has been revolutionized by the
development and usage of interlocking concrete masonry units and lightweight
concrete blocks. The tedious and time-consuming traditional brick-laying tasks are
greatly simplified by the usage of these effective alternative solutions. Masonry
performs simultaneous functions of carrying load and enclosing space, while
possessing strong properties for fire resistance, thermal and sound insulation and
protection against environmental exposure. As a result, masonry is a cost-effective
and low-energy alternative when designed appropriately. However, its main
shortcoming is that its construction is slow and labour intensive. Furthermore,
conventional masonry construction, especially for smaller units, leads to a large
number of mortar joints. In order to limit the stresses induced in these joints during
construction, the rate at which the height of a wall increases in somewhat restricted.
The introduction of interlocking mortarless masonry has led to a large increase in field
productivity and efficiency, as well as a reduction in the requirements for highly
specialized labour crews. This paper will present a literature review of interlocking
mortarless masonry construction and its inherent advantages in building construction
Interlocking Block Technique
The interlocking blocks are different from conventional bricks since they do not require
mortar to be laid during bricklaying work. Because of this characteristic, the process of
building walls is faster and requires less skilled labour as the blocks are laid dry and
lock into place. Concrete blocks may be produced with hollow centres to reduce
weight, avoid seepages or improve insulation. The holes inside the concrete block
allow rebar and concreting (creating reinforced concrete) to run vertically through the
block to compensate for the lack of tensile strength. Rebar used can be of mild steel
instead of the usual higher grade steel. Once a section of wall is built, grout holes are
filled with a lean cement mixture to seal the wall and making a permanent solid wall.
The amount of grout used was calculated to be less than 7.5% of the mortar used in
conventional masonry.

• Since the blocks can be laid dry, no mortar is required and a considerable amount of
cement is saved.
• Each block has vertical holes, which serve four purposes:
1. To reduce the weight of the block,
2. To insert steel rods or treated kenaf bar for reinforcement,
3. To act as conduit for electrical and water piping,
4. To pour liquid mortar (grout) into the holes, which run through the full height of the
wall, thus increasing its stability and providing barrier to seepages.
• The length of each block is exactly double its width, in order to achieve accurate
alignment of blocks placed at right angles; else, a junction block is required.
Classification of Mortarless System
Individual blocks are generally the same size as a typical 200 x 200 x 400 mm concrete
masonry block, but each system is unique (Murray 2007). Table 1 outlines several of
the most notable mortarless systems that have been proposed. Depending on the
application, one system may provide more advantages than another. For example,
lintel beams spanning over a door or window opening will require a block suitable for
horizontal reinforcement. As it can be seen from table 1, only some systems provide
both horizontal and vertical reinforcement capabilities.
Currently in the world several types of mortarless blocks have been proposed including those
that are of interlocking geometry. Most of these are hollow; however, solid interlocking blocks
have also been developed as an improvement over the traditional adobe bricks that were
prevalent in some African countries during the 20th century