A review on improved construction methods for clay-brick and concrete-block ordinary masonry buildings

ABSTRACT Masonry construction is the leading construction method for building constructions worldwide. Despite their relatively poor seismic performance, masonry buildings have widespread appeal owing to their low construction costs and ease of construction especially in rural and semi-urban centres of developing countries like India. In the recent past, however, innovative techniques in masonry constructions have significantly improved the seismic behaviour of low and medium rise masonry buildings and have satisfactorily performed under strong earthquake ground shaking. This paper critically summarizes the different seismically-improved construction methods for clay-brick and concrete-block ordinary masonry buildings adopted worldwide. While the same method may be applied in different regions of the world, the use of different types of masonry units, however, do not necessarily yield the same results. For regions where the first use of a seismically-improved construction method is contemplated, there is a need to further investigate the efficacy of any method with the locally available materials of the region for economic feasibility and social acceptance of the proposed method.