Query: clay printin construction architecture

title: Clay buildings in modern energy efficient construction
abstract: The best practices of using low tech traditional materials are summarized, and the role of clay in modern architectural design and construction is revealed. The cost of energy for the construction of buildings with the use of ecological clay technology is much lower than with the use of industrial building construction technologies. Thermophysical and bioclimatic studies have allowed determining the thermal properties of walls made of clay, clay materials and their role in the formation of a comfortable microclimate of the premises. When examining the carrying capacity of the structural system of buildings, vulnerable buildings were identified, on the basis of which research and development constructive methods for strengthening clay walls were developed and proposed for use in the practice of designing and building buildings. They ensure high reliability and comfort of living of people in the standard and special climatic conditions of the territories. The developed methods of strengthening the structural parts and the technology of construction made of clay with high reliability will expand the construction in normal and special climatic conditions of the territories.

title: An improvement of criteria for assessing the quality of clay raw material for architectural and construction ceramics
abstract: The study analyzes the existing methods for assessing the suitability of clay raw materials for the production of architectural and construction ceramics and substantiates the need for their improvement in the direction of developing an indicator based on an analysis of the mineral composition of clays. Using the compositions of the kaolinite montmorillonite hydromica quartz system, which simulate the composition of polymineral clays, the effect of clay forming minerals and quartz impurities on the properties of the clinker ceramic materials has been established. It has been determined that the montmorillonite component of the compositions has a positive effect on the water absorption of materials, and kaolinite produces a favourable effect on the mechanical strength and frost resistance. The increase in the content of quartz in the composition of compositions from 30 to 50 leads to an increase in water absorption of materials, reducing their strength and frost resistance to a level unacceptable for ceramic clinker. It has been established that to obtain clinker ceramics, the quartz content in the compositions cannot exceed 40 A diagram of the mineral composition was developed, clearly illustrating the ratios of the main rock forming minerals in clays with a quartz content of 30 and 40 acceptable for the production of modern clinker products. The diagram shows areas of the mineral composition of clays suitable for the production of facing, paving and road clinker of the M200 300 grades and road clinker of the M400 grade at a firing temperature of 1,100 degS. The diagram of the mineral composition complements the existing indicators of the suitability of clay raw materials for the production of architectural and construction ceramics and can serve as an additional criterion for assessing their technological quality. The diagram can be used to analyze the suitability of clays for the production of ceramic clinker, provided that only the mineral composition of clays is determined without establishing their chemical and particle size distribution

title: Straw in Clay Bricks and Plasters Can We Use Its Molecular Decay for Dating Purposes?
abstract: Dating of clay bricks (adobe) and plasters is a relevant topic not only for building historians in the Pannonian region. Especially in vernacular architecture in this region, clay with straw amendments is a dominant construction material. The paper presents the potential of the molecular decay of these amendments to establish prediction tools for age based on infrared spectroscopic measurements. Preliminary results revealed spectral differences between the different plant parts, especially culms, nodes, and ear spindles. Based on these results, a first prediction model is presented including 14 historic samples. The coefficient of determination for the validation reached 62.2% the (RMSE) root mean squared error amounted to 93 years. Taking the limited sample amount and the high material heterogeneity into account, this result can be seen as a promising output. Accordingly, sample size should be increased to a minimum of 100 objects and separate models for the different plant parts should be established.

title: Experimental Characterization of Solid Clay Bricks: Correlations Among Mechanical Properties
abstract: Strengthening interventions on existing structures, especially in the case of Architectural Heritage, require an in depth knowledge of construction techniques, geometry and materials for an optimal design aiming at the minimum intervention approach ideal. Nonetheless, conservative values of material properties, often derived from codes or literature, might hinder the effectiveness of the design approach. Non Destructive Tests (NDT) and Minor Destructive Tests (MDT) are fundamental tools for the characterization of existing materials with a minimum or no impact. The paper presents an experimental study that investigated the possibility of defining empirical correlations among the main mechanical properties of solid clay bricks, which are one of the most common unit for masonry load bearing members. Extruded bricks, typical of modern constructions, and soft mud bricks, resembling historical units, were tested to cover for the ample variability of solid clay bricks. The examined mechanical properties were compressive, bending, splitting and pull off strengths. The dataset of mechanical properties allowed calibrating linear correlations expressing one property as a function of another, thus giving the possibility of estimating a set of strengths based on the results of the MDT pull off test. An innovative aspect consisted in performing the four tests on the same unit, so that the calibrated linear correlations are based on punctual data instead of average values. A practical application can consist in the on site execution of pull off tests, which are minor destructive and can be easily performed on a wall surface, for estimating the compressive strength of clay units.

title: When social behaviour is moulded in clay: on growth and form of social insect nests
abstract: The nests built by social insects are among the most complex structures produced by animal groups. They reveal the social behaviour of a colony and as such they potentially allow comparative studies. However, for a long time, research on nest architecture was hindered by the lack of technical tools allowing the visualisation of their complex 3D structures and the quantification of their properties. Several techniques, developed over the years, now make it possible to study the organisation of these nests and how they are built. Here, we review present knowledge of the mechanisms of nest construction, and how nest structure affects the behaviour of individual insects and the organisation of activities within a colony.  Ants and termites collectively build large nests with complex architecture. Here, we review the organisation of these structures and the mechanisms involved in their construction.

title: Design and Improvement of foundation soil for high rise construction
abstract: The assessments were made in the current practice based on the design foundation of high rise buildings in Moscow to find a method for improving the soil foundation. Many references showed that the current design was controlled by structural engineers. They commonly used the old methods of analysis, the first part was carried out for the design of the structure and architecture of high rise building, the second part of the study was to explore the benefit of adopting the application of stone columns raft foundation design concept. A comparative study was made between the results of the 3 dimensional finite element (3D FEM) analysis in SCAD software. The results showed that the plate foundation of the building does not satisfy to carry the total load without some meaning of improvement. The 3D FEM by PLAXIS 3D showed that the used stone columns decreased the settlement because about 70 80% of the total building loads were carried by columns when the raft was placed in the stiff clay layer. The number of columns in the raft foundation can be significantly reduced, particularly if the soil had strong characteristics. The raft foundation settlement can be significantly reduced, particularly if the soil had strong characteristics.

title: Early construction at Nixtun Ch'ich' Peten, Guatemala: An architectural footing and bonding sample
abstract: The lowland Maya city of Nixtun Ch'ich' (Peten, Guatemala) exhibits an atypical gridded layout featuring quadrilateral blocks of architectural construction, established in the Middle Preclassic period 800 500 BCE) Early levels of some excavated structures revealed unusual dark colored, sticky sediments used as architectural footings overlying limestone bedrock and as adhesives for binding construction stones. Physical, mineralogical, and soil nutrient (chemical) properties of two samples of this material were analyzed. The samples were found to be highly organic (high %LOI) and composed primarily of smectite clay. They are characterized by low green strength, marked swelling when mixed with water, and corresponding shrinkage on drying, suggesting low load bearing capacity. Chemical analyses revealed a slightly elevated pH of 7.8 and high levels of six soil nutrients but low phosphorus, likely making the material unsatisfactory for agriculture. We conclude that these sticky organic clays, probably of lacustrine origin, functioned as bonding agents in early architectural construction.

title: Development of a Design Driven Parametric Mass Timber Construction System for Modular High Rise Urban Housing
abstract: This paper presents the outcome of an ongoing research and development process at Lang Wilson Practice and Architecture Culture and Intelligent City on a parametric mass timber construction system for modular mid to high rise urban housing that started in 2006. The system was developed to systematically address the urban housing crisis in North America, and it is currently applied in two Canadian housing projects in seismic zones with 4 and 12 storeys in an evolution from previous modular housing projects by the companies. The first part of this paper explains the holistic, design driven and parametric approach to urban housing, and how platform based design is critical for an adaptable, sustainable and qualitative urbanization. Criteria of livability, affordability and sustainability inform the development of a customizable and modular mass timber building system, which can adapt to grid spacing and module sizes as well as to structural requirements for up to 18 floors in seismic zones. The building system is developed to meet Passive House certification and to be fully prefabricated. Constructional innovations within the system reduce the typical redundancy of doubled up material layers of modular construction. In the second part, the authors explain how the building system is also the result of the development of a fully parametric design tool that allows not only for the optimization of building typology, home layouts or even energy consumption, but also automatically adapts the geometry of all mass timber building elements. This high level of parametrized building information density in an early stage of the design process allows for an unprecedented collaboration of designers, architects and engineers while ensuring constructability. In the last part the authors present a case study, explaining the advantages and challenges of such a collaborative effort and explain how they successfully obtained approvals to build a 12 storey mass timber housing project.

title: Fabrication and Study of Power Output of MultiChamber Microbial Fuel Cells (Mfcs) With Clay as Ion Exchange Partition
abstract: The main challenges in the construction of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are the identification of materials, designs, and architectures that may maximize power generation efficiency and fabrication cost. In view of these facts, an attempt was made to design and fabricate Multi Chamber MFCs of different configuration using locally available Mfensi clay as ionexchange partitions. The performance of each micro cell, combined effect of the total system as one cell, and the overall performance were studied. The volume of each chamber of these cells was approximately 130 cm3 It was found that the wastewater of chemical oxygen demand (COD) that was 6340 gm/L used in the MFCs yielded a maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1421 30 mV. The peak power density of 33.30 mW/cm2 (0.037 mA/cm2 at 1000 O was normalized to the anode surface area

title: Study Of Thermal And Mechanical Properties Of Clay/Polymer Nanocomposite Synthesized Via Modified Solution Blending
abstract: In this work, the incorporation of layered nano silicates in polymer matrixes greatly enhances the properties of the polymer. Nowadays, there are many applications of polymer nanocomposites including coatings and architectural, they are also parts of automotive and construction industry among others. In the present study, mechanical, and thermal properties, and wettability angle of especially prepared acrylic montmorillonita (MMT) nanocomposites were investigated. The acrylics were based on butyl acrylate (BA) styrene (sty) and methacrylic acid (MAA) and the nano clay was Na montomorillonite (MMT) The MMT clay was added to the polymer, the mixing matrix in physical state solution called (blend) The state of aggregation was investigated by mechanical properties (Youngs modulus) The increment in concentration of MMT in the polymer matrix produces more than one order of magnitude gain in the Youngs modulus. However by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) lost thermograms show an increase in the glass transition of nanocomposites for all the concentrations of MMT. Furthermore, it was also studied by wetting angle, to determine how much water is retained on the surface of the nanocomposite, the results showed that by increasing the particle of nano clay in the polymer matrix induces a hydrophobic property to the nanocomposite.