Investigation of factors influencing thermal movements in masonry walls

Abstract

Masonry is the most widely used construction material around the world. Masonry is susceptible to dimensional changes due to environmental conditions such as temperature variations and moisture variation. This phenomenon is known as "movements in masonry walls". Thermal movements in masonry walls are mainly governed by the temperature variations in masonry walls which are caused due to the ambient temperature and other physical parameters of the walls. From this research study it is identified that the thickness, colour and the surface texture of the masonry walls are the other physical parameters that would significantly affect the temperature in masonry walls. Therefore an attempt has been taken by carrying out an experimental study to develop a correlation between the ambient temperature and wall temperature considering physical parameters, to predict the maximum and minimum temperatures that a wall would achieve. These values are necessary to predict the extent of thermal movement in masonry walls. Using the developed model, it is possible to predict the maximum strain that a particular masonry wall would experience under given maximum and minimum ambient temperatures. Therefore a precise value for the joint spacing between movement joints in masonry walls can be calculated using the strain.