What are the main characteristics of construction materials?
Below we describe some of these factors of the main building materials.
Reinforced concrete
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Mechanical properties: Concrete is a material that is very resistant to compression, but it has very little tensile strength; therefore, reinforcing steel must be placed on the tractioned fiber. They are heavy and rigid structures, have few problems of vibration, have monolithic connections. Fragile cutting and twisting.
Ductility: They are less ductile structures than those of steel and wood, they must be designed considering a certain degree of ductility so that the elements are designed in the overstretched range.
Constructive process: The elements of the concrete structures can be prefabricated or concrete cast on site. On-site emptying requires the use of formwork. Labor can be poorly qualified.
Advantages: They are structures of common use, high resistance to internal efforts especially to compression, labor can be poorly qualified, good behavior against fire and few problems of vibration, you can mold the dimensions of structural elements and non-structural, requires little maintenance, high protection against storms, great durability over time.
Disadvantages: Heavy structures and large volume, large lights lead to having elements with large dimensions and higher cost, the formation of cracks in inevitable, the shuttering consumes time and costs, it must maintain good quality control.
Seismic behavior: Drift, torsion, basal shear control must be maintained. Determine the level of design and structural system, the capacity column vs. load, ensure the necessary connections, internal stress check, location and separation of stirrups, detailing of overlaps, cutting of beams, joints and hooks.
Behavior against fire: Good behavior against fire (Resistance from 1 to 3 hours). It is more resistant to fire than wood and structural steel.
Durability: Durable structures over time, generally do not require a large economic investment for maintenance. They have a very long lifespan.
Sustainability: Not as much energy is used for the production of concrete as in the case of steel. Nowadays, the technological advances have allowed to diminish the production of CO2 on the part of the cement industry. Good ergonomics can be achieved.
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Structural steel
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Mechanical properties: Steel is a highly ductile material. They are lightweight structures and have high tensile strength, steel presents uniformity and homogeneity. High termic and electric conductivity. One of the most important checks to be made is the vibration and arrow.
Ductility: Very high ductility.
Constructive process: Qualified labor is required. They are structures of rapid construction. The elements are joined through rivets, welds and screws
Advantages: It allows to cover large lights, fast construction, highly ductile material, optimized sections, lightweight structures. Its properties do not change over time, great ease to join elements, great ability to laminate, resistance to fatigue, you can disassemble and reuse the elements.
Disadvantages: Great deflections of the elements, vibration problems, bad fire resistant behavior, delicate connections, transport limitations of the sections, corrosion problems, maintenance costs, high energy use.
Seismic behavior: Drift, torsion, basal shear control must be maintained. Determine the level of design and structural system, the capacity column vs load, ensure the necessary connections, checking internal efforts.
Behavior against fire: Bad behavior against fire. Steel gives a false sense of security by being incombustible, but its fundamental mechanical properties are severely affected by the high temperatures profiles can reach in the course of a fire.
Durability: They require maintenance and unfavorable environments can be highly corrosive.
Sustainability: Steel is usually identified as a "friend of the environment" material, essentially thanks to its recycling potential. Despite this, the manufacture of steel elements requires a high use of energy and high CO2 production.
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Wood structures
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Mechanical properties: Unlike most structural materials, it has higher tensile strength than compression, although the latter is also acceptably high. The material is strongly anisotropic. The structural properties of the wood are very variable according to the species and according to the defects that a given piece can present.
Ductility: One of the most important properties of wood structures is that they are highly ductile, that is, under the action of force they can deform sustainably without breaking.
Constructive process: Qualified labor is required. They are structures of rapid construction. The natural humidity of the wood must be removed to reach an adequate level of humidity to be worked. A minimum production of defects for the elements with wood must also be guaranteed.
Advantages: It has high resistance to both compression and traction, fast construction, requires less energy than steel elements, good availability, thermal and electrical insulation.
Disadvantages: Problems in the presence of water and high humidity, poor behavior in the presence of fire, problems when termites are present.
Seismic behavior: Light material, flexibility, low modulus of elasticity, high period, low acceleration. It is a fragile, lineoelastic material until rupture. Ductility is provided by metallic connections. Greater resistance for short-term loads. R factor depends on the construction system, its redundancy and the type of connections.
Behavior against fire: Wood from the point of view of the behavior of materials, is a combustible material. In both aspects or functions, as a material and as a resistant element, we have the possibility of improving its behavior using products, methods of treatments or the appropriate constructive details.
Durability: Natural durability can be increased through artificial processes, either by simple drying or special treatments. Wood can be a highly durable material over time, however the presence of water, defects in wood and termites can deteriorate its useful life.
Sustainability: The holes in the wood make it difficult for heat to pass through and make it a good thermal insulator as well as retard the passage of fire in the case of thick wooden beams. Faced with sound, its insulation properties are low, especially in comparison with other more efficient materials. Dry wood is a good electrical insulator, its resistivity decreases rapidly if humidity increases. For a determined degree of humidity the resistivity depends on the direction (it is less in the direction of the fibers), of the species (it is greater in species that contain oils and resins) and of the specific weight (it grows when increasing it). Wood requires little manufacturing energy compared to steel, which implies lower costs.
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Armed masonry
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Mechanical properties: Heavy and rigid structures, little resistance to cutting, little ductile, few vibration problems.
Ductility: little ductile structures
Constructive process: common use in old structures. They are built on site and low skilled labor is required. It can be done with bricks, adobe, concrete blocks and the use of reinforcement with steel.
Advantages: Low skilled labor, few vibration problems, fire resistant.
Disadvantages: Little ductility, little resistance to cutting.
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it's interesting how the combination of these materials can form an anti-earthquake building
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