Structural Design of Brickwork Buildings

Abstract

A large proportion of brickwork buildings for residential and other purposes are satisfactorily designed and built in accordance with empirical rules and practices without the need for special structural consideration. However, the limits of this approach cannot be extended much beyond the scale of two-storey houses of very conventional construction without having to use very thick walls, which in turn result in waste of materials and other disadvantages. Indeed for a considerable time this led to the eclipse of masonry as a structural material for larger buildings, and it is only since the 1950s that the application of structural engineering principles to the design of brickwork has resulted in the re-adoption of this material for certain classes of multi-storey buildings, and to its use in situations which would have been precluded by reliance on rule of thumb procedures.