Research Projects

In masonry, compared to brick, fire vulnerability of mortar is more. Further, it is observed that, water vapor of mortar evaporates at high temperature. The proposed research is to use waste (plastic, textile and agro) fibers to augment the tensile strength of masonry mortar in place of the traditional fiber (polypropylene fiber). The waste fibers in the mortar can melt at low temperature (less than 150 oC). Once they melt small pores shall be formed and the evenly dispersed melted fibers shall improve the connectivity between the voids and reduce the internal pore pressure formed by water evaporation due to high temperature. This may lead to slow down the formation of micro cracks in the mortar. This may be beneficial in improved post fire residual strength of fiber reinforced mortar in comparison to the unreinforced mortar. This may help to improve the post fire stability and integrity of masonry structure using waste materials. It will be win-win condition from the view point of waste disposal and economy, too. Development of a trained machine learning (ML) driven material model using the experimental data may help to assess the fire safety of existing onsite masonry structures with accuracy and computational efficiency. Aim: Cost-effective and sustainable strengthening strategy for fire safety of structural masonry through model testing and ML driven material modelling. Goals: Development of guidelines for fire safety of structural masonry. Expected Results: •Experimental set up for model testing of fire vulnerability of masonry structures may provide in detail the failure mechanisms from crack initiation stage to failure of structure. •Cost effective, sustainable and easily implementable strengthening techniques may prove beneficial towards improvement of strength, ductility and delay in failure time, leading to enhancement in stability of structure. •Simplified ML driven material modelling of masonry validated with the model tests may justify its applicability for fire vulnerability assessment on full scale onsite masonry structures. •Developed and standardized guidelines may be beneficial towards the fire safety of onsite masonry structures. Performance Indicators: The proposed research can be assessed through the 3 major performance indicators. a. Buildability: The proposed techniques are easy to apply and the materials are locally available. For implementation neither it will require sophisticated equipment nor much technical rigour. The proposed technique is not limited to the laboratory but its onsite demonstration will proved its efficacy towards field application. b. Sustainability: The proposed materials to be used will be sustainable. It will use waste materials (plastic, textile and agriculture). c. Economy: The proposed strengthening technique will be cost-effective as implementation will use locally available material without much technical rigour. This project will be addressing the issue of fire safety of masonry structures. The following direct and indirect beneficiaries have been identified related to the social and economic growth. •The successful implementation of the project including on-site demonstrations will benefit the common people of India living in the masonry houses. •The project will assist local masons in constructing sustainable and resilient masonry structures that can withstand the impact fire hazards. •Innovative methods involving the use of waste materials for strengthening buildings will equip local people to utilize waste. •As locally available materials and easy to apply techniques will be implemented, this may be helpful in livelihood of the local people. •As major thrust will be waste utilization, implementation of the proposed methodology will lead to lesser consumption of natural resources. •The outcomes of this project have the potential to be incorporated into fire safety guidelines for masonry structure.