Stone has over millennia been used for structures which naturally develop compression under gravity loads. This study focuses on segmental stone beams with artificially induced compression. Prototype specimens were fabricated using epoxy adhesive longitudinal shear transfer between prestressed steel strands and pre-cut Valange limestone blocks mortar inter-block joints. Each specimen was by a s...

in this work, the waste stone sludge obtained from the granite and marble stone processing factories was used for the manufacture of artificial stones using vibratory compaction in a vacuum environment. the results obtained showed that water absorption and density increased, and the flexure, compressive, and tensile strengths decreased with increase in the content of the waste stone sludge. the...

Repair mortar is commonly used to rehabilitate reinforced concrete structures or components that exhibit a relatively high level of distresses. Yet, the repair mortar can be contaminated by salt from its service environment. This work employs a two-dimensional finite element model to investigate the non-stationary transport behavior of ionic species in salt-contaminated and water-saturated repa...

This paper describes the design optimization of ferrocement-laminated plate made up of reinforcing steel wire mesh(es) and cement mortar. For the improvement of the designing process, the plate is modeled as a multi-layer medium, dividing the ferrocement plate into layers of mortar and ferrocement. The mortar layers are assumed to be isotropic in nature and the ferrocement layers are assumed to...

The size dependence of flexural properties of cement mortar and concrete beams is investigated. Bazant's size effect law and modified size effect law by Kim and Eo give a very good fit to the flexural strength of both cement mortar and concrete. As observed in the test results, a strong size effect in flexural strength is found in cement mortar than in concrete. A modification has been suggeste...

Balancing business strategy and operations between electronic commerce and brick and mortar channels (‘clicks and mortar’) is an ongoing challenge for many businesses. A group of traditional ‘brick and mortar’ firms were examined in order to understand how they balance strategy and operations between electronic commerce and traditional (brick and mortar) business channels. Results of the study ...

Due to the pozzolanic reactivity, rice husk ash (RHA) is used as supplementary cementing material in mortar and concrete and has demonstrated significant influence in improving the mechanical and durability properties of mortar and concrete. It has economical and technical advantages to use in concrete. In this paper, a critical review on the influences of RHA on the strength of mortar and conc...

Customers often evaluate products at brick-and-mortar stores to identify their “best fit” product, but end up buying this product not at the store but at a competing online retailer to take advantage of lower prices. This free-riding behavior by customers is referred to as “showrooming.” We analyze three strategies to counter the effect of showrooming that may improve profits for the brick-and-...

Mortar elements form a family of special non-overlapping domain decomposition methods which allows the coupling of different triangulations across subdomain boundaries. We discuss and analyze a multilevel preconditioner for mortar finite elements on nonmatching triangulations. The analysis is carried out within the abstract framework of additive Schwarz methods. Numerical results show a perform...

Picture with me an old cottage nestled in the woods. There is a small house built of clay bricks that were thoughtfully stacked and interlaced by a master bricklayer so as to produce a repeated interlocking pattern. The house has a thatched roof consisting of bundles of straw. The straws in each bundle are oriented in a common direction to direct rainwater off the roof, and are lashed together ...