1

Module CE-251
Building Materials,
Construction and Estimation

Lecture 1:

Dr Rajib Chowdhury
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Roorkee
CE-251 - Course details 2

3 lectures
Contact Hours/
Week 1 tutorial
2/2 practical

Section 1 Building Materials.

Syllabus details Section 2 Estimation.
Section 3 Construction.

Coursework submission 15%

Practical report submission 15%
Relative weightage Mid-term examination 30%
Closed book Final examination 40%
Zero tolerance of late coursework submissions
Zero tolerance of plagiarism zero module mark awarded.
CE-251 - Texts 3

Materials for Civil and Construction Engineers, Michael S Mamlouk,

John P Zaniewski, 3rd Edition
Engineering Materials, Surendra Singh, 4th Edition
Engineering Material N. M. Murthy
Building Materials, S. K. Duggal, 3rd Edition
Recommended
texts Engineering Materials K. P. Roy Chowdhury, 7th Edition
Civil Engineering Materials, Shan Somayaji, 2nd Edition

Estimating and Costing, B. N. Dutta

CE-251 - Lecture Outline 4

v Functions of Building

v Role of Building Materials

v Physical & Mechanical Properties of Materials

v Clay material - Bricks

CE-251 - Functions of Building 5

What are the functions of Building ?

The function of a building is to provide a desired spatial environment

(controlled/uncontrolled), for given human activity.
Controlled environment Temperature, Relative Humidity,
etc.
Uncontrolled environment
The building, therefore, provides a safe and comfortable internal
environment against the existing external and unwanted internal
conditions for given human activity.
The building must accomplish the same economically.
CE-251 - Functions of Building 6

Safety ?

Safe against natural forces gravity, wind, rain and snowfall and
earthquake etc. In addition, forces are also imposed due to human
actions.

Function is to withstand these loads Safely

CE-251 - Role of Materials 7

Role of Material (safety)

Loads are resisted by structural system.

Structural system consists of members or elements connected at
junctions.
The system is idealized to suit mathematical analysis and through the
analysis, forces on the members due to design loads are computed.
The size of the member for the material used must be able to resist the
design forces.
Material should have adequate axial, flexural and shear
strength. Strength/weight ratio may be important in some cases.
Adequate stiffness is provided by modulus of elasticity of the
material.
Post elastic ductility.
Resilience and damping properties.
CE-251 - Role of Materials 8

Role of Material (functional)

Thermal conductivity, diffusivity and coefficient of expansion.

Transmission loss and transmissibility and sound absorption coefficient
of elements.
Fire resistance of elements.
Hydraulic diffusivity, permeability and vapour transfer coefficients.
Reflectivity
CE-251 - Civil Engineering building materials 9

l C o m m o n c i v i l e n g i n e e r i n g l Less common materials

materials: aluminum
steel glass
mineral aggregates plastic
concrete Fiber-reinforced composites
masonry
asphalt
wood
soil for geotechnical engineers
CE-251 - Civil Engineering building materials 10

Material Selection Considerations

l Economic factors l Emphasis

l Mechanical properties clients needs
facilitys function
l Non-mechanical properties
l Production/construction
l Aesthetic properties
l Sustainable considerations
 CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 11

Physical Properties
M
Density - the mass of a unit volume of homogeneous material denoted by = g/cm 3
V
Material Density
Brick 2.5 2.8
Granite 2.6 2.9
Portland Cement 2.9 3.1
Wood 1.5 1.6
Steel 7.8 7.9

Bulk Density - is the mass of a unit volume of material in its natural state (with pores
and voids) calculated as M
b = 3
kg/m
V
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 12

Physical Properties
Bulk Density - is the mass of a unit volume of material in its natural state (with pores and
voids) calculated as
M
b = kg/m 3
V
Material Bulk Density
Brick 1600 1800
Granite 2500 2700
Portland Cement 1450 1650
Wood 500 600
Steel 7850
Density Index - It indicates the degree to which the volume of a material is filled with
solid matter. For almost all building materials this is less than 1.0 because there are no
absolutely dense bodies in nature.

bulk density
0 =
density
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 13

Physical Properties
Porosity- is the degree to which volume of the material of the material is interspersed with
pores. It is expressed as a ratio of the volume of pores to that of the specimen
Vv
n=
V
Porosity is indicative of other major properties of material, such as bulk density, heat conductivity,
durability, etc. Dense materials, which have low porosity, are used for constructions requiring high
mechanical strength on other hand, walls of buildings are commonly built of materials, featuring
considerable porosity.

Void Ratio - is defined as the ratio of volume of voids (Vv) to the volume of solids (Vs).

Vv
e=
Vs

Hygroscopicity - is the property of a material to absorb water vapour from air. It is

influenced by air-temperature and relative humidity; pores - their types, number and size,
and by the nature of substance involved.
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 14

Physical Properties
Water Absorption- denotes the ability of the material to absorb and retain water. It is
expressed as percentage in weight or of the volume of dry material
M1 M
Ww = 100
M
M M
Wv = 1 100
V
M1 = mass of saturated material (g). M = mass of dry material (g). V = volume of material
with pores (mm3).
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 15

Mechanical Properties

Strength
Hardness
Elasticity
Plasticity
Resilience
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 16

Mechanical Properties

Strength is the ability of the material to resist failure under the action of
stresses caused by loads, the most common being compression, tension,
bending and impact etc.

Hardness is the ability of a material to resist penetration by a harder

body. Hardness of metals and plastics is found by indentation of a steel
ball.

Elasticity is the ability of a material to restore its initial form and

dimensions after the load is removed. Within the limits of elasticity of
solid bodies, the deformation is proportional to the stress. Ratio of unit
stress to unit deformation is termed as modulus of elasticity. A large value
of it represents a material with very small deformation.
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 17

Mechanical Properties
Plasticity is the ability of a material to change its shape under load
without cracking and to retain this shape after the load is removed. Some
of the examples of plastic materials are steel, copper and hot bitumen.

Resilience - is the ability of a material to absorb energy when it is

deformed elastically, and release that energy upon unloading. The
modulus of resilience is defined as the maximum energy stored in per unit
volume without creating a permanent distortion.

In Uni-axial loading
y2
kr =
2E
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 18

Stress-Strain Relations

All solid materials deform under load

l stress is like force (or load) with the size factored out so that we can
directly compare different sizes
stress = force / area
s=F/A (psi, ksi, kPa, MPa, GPa)
l strain is like deformation with the size factored out
strain = deformation / original length
e =L / L0 (%, in/in, mm/mm)
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 19

Typical Stress-Strain Diagrams

l s e is usually linear in the low stress range but transforms into non-linear

Glass and Steel Aluminum Concrete Soft

chalk alloys rubber
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 20

Elastic Behaviour

l Instantaneous response to load

l Returns to its original shape upon unloading
stretches bonds between atoms without rearranging them
CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 21

Elastic Behaviour

l A linear material has a straight line stress-strain graph

l An elastic material returns to its original shape

Non-linear elastic

Linear elastic Non-linear inelastic

CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 22

l What if response is not linear?

l How do we find the slope (Modulus of Elasticity)?

Initial
Tangent
Modulus Tangent
Modulus
Stress

Chord
Modulus

Secant
Modulus

Strain
 CE-251 - Fundamental Properties of building materials 23

New elastic limit Force is applied resulting in

Response to further stress and strain
loading follows When force is removed,
original stress-strain stress returns to zero.
Elastic Limit behavior Path is parallel to the
initial slope of the curve.
Stress

Part of the strain is

recovered, this is
elastic behavior.
Part of the strain is
Total Strain permanent, this is
plastic behavior.
Strain Reloading will resume to the highest
Plastic previous stress level.
Elastic
Strain Strain
Elastic limit is reset to the previous
highest stress level.