Building Material I

Syllabus

1. Introduction (2 hours)
   1. Building materials and their importance in architecture and engineering
   2. Objective of building material study
2. Stone (8 hours)
   1. Introduction and sources of stone; types of rocks by geological formation, physical and chemical properties, and hardness
   2. Quarrying of stone: by hand, by machine, by blasts
   3. Seasoning, defects and preservation of stone
   4. Dressing of stone: hammer dressing, chisel drafted margin, tooling and axing, fine tooling, rubbed and polished work
   5. Stone masonry: types, general principles, comparison between brick and stone masonry
   6. Selection and uses of stone; artificial stones
3. Brick (7 hours)
   1. Introduction and types of bricks (traditional and modern)
   2. Constituents of brick earth and brick making process (hand and machine)
   3. Characteristics of good bricks, sizes and classes (A, B, C)
   4. Testing of brick: water absorption, compressive strength, tensile strength, lab and field tests
4. Lime (3 hours)
   1. Introduction, constituents and classification of lime
   2. Types, properties, comparisons and uses of lime
5. Sand (3 hours)
   1. Introduction, classification and uses
   2. Bulking of sand, characteristics of good sand, substitutes of sand
6. Cement (10 hours)
   1. Introduction, constituents and properties of good cement
   2. Manufacturing process: dry and wet process
   3. Testing of cement: fineness, soundness, tensile strength, compressive strength, field test
   4. Cement mortar, types and uses; cement plaster and paints; storage of cement; lab and field tests
7. Concrete (12 hours)
   1. Introduction, constituents and mixing ratios
   2. Properties of concrete: plastic and hardened stage
   3. Operations of concrete: mixing, transportation, placing, compaction, curing
   4. Types of concrete including reinforced cement concrete, admixtures, and lab testing

Practicals

1. Field work: visit to ongoing project site and market survey of different building materials
2. Tutorials (15 hours): exercises, assignments, lab reports, site visit and market survey reports, with a site visit to a quarry site, brick factory or cement factory