Recycling Procedure of Brick Masonry Wall Rubble

Iman Satyarno Civil Engineering Department, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta

ABSTRACT: The number of damaged buildings due to Earthquake in Yogyakarta on 27 May 2006 may reach 200,000 buildings. Most of them are brick masonry wall buildings, which are categorized as non-engineered structures. While the damaged buildings produce a lot of amount of rubble, there will be a huge need of material to rebuild them. For the time being, the people and the government assume that the rubble is rubbish that must be thrown away which is very costly. This paper discusses how to recycle the rubble espe-cially the brick masonry wall rubble to minimize the material supply from other regions as most of the mate-rial prices have increased significantly. Laboratory test results showed that the brick masonry wall rubble could be recycled to become new bricks or concrete blocks. The wall can also be made using a direct pouring method. The recycled bricks are made by mixing the crushed brick masonry wall rubble with water and ce-ment with certain composition. The quality of the recycled bricks can be made higher than the ones in the market by controlling the portion of cement in the mix.

Keywords: brick, crushed, masonry, rubble, wall

1 INTRODUCTION

On 27 May 2006 a quite big earthquake has rocked Yogyakarta Special Region with a scale of 6.3 Richter according to United States Geology Sur-vey (USGS). This earthquake had caused a lot of damaged to buildings in the region that may reach around 200,000 buildings. Most of them are brick masonry wall buildings, which are categorized as non-engineered structures. The aerial photo in one spot of the region is given in Figure 1, while the closed look of some damaged buildings can be seen in Figure 2. While the damaged buildings produce a lot of amount of rubble, there will be a huge need of material to rebuild them. One of the needed material is bricks for the wall. However, it is noted that the brick productions have negative impacts to the envi-ronment because the bricks are normally made of soil from rice fields [Satyarno (2004), Satyarno (2005)].

For the time being, the people and the government assume that the rubble is rubbish that must be thrown away. As can bee seen in Figure 3 most of the people threw the rubble by the side of roads. This will interrupt the traffic in the road that some-times caused traffic jam. To avoid this problem the government carried out a program to clean out the rubble. As the amount of rubble is huge, this pro-gram needs money and very costly.

2 EQUIPMENT

There are three processes in the recycling proce-dure need to be carried out, they are: 1) crushing, 2) mixing, 3) moulding.

Crushing and mixing process can be carried out manually or mechanically. For manual process the following equipments are required. 1) hammer with the weight of 0.3 to 1.0 kg, 2) sieve with diameter of 5 mm, 3) shovel, 4) scoop, 5) brick or concrete block moulds.

For mechanically process the additional equip-ments are stone crusher, concrete mixer and auto-matic moulding system if any of them is available

3 CRUSHING PROCESS

The manually crushing process is carried out as fol-lows, see also Figure 4. 1) The rubble normally contains mortar and bricks,

for manually process it is better to separate them and pile them in different places.

2) Each pile or mortar and bricks rubble is crushed using hammer.

IKONOS satellite images displayed on this page are acquired and processed by CRISP, National University of Singapore. © CRISP 2006

Figure 1. Aerial view of damaged buildings in one spot of devastated area.

3) For mechanically process, it is not necessary to separate the mortar and the bricks as they can be crushed using the applied stone crusher simulta-neously.

The mechanically crushing process using mo-

bile stone crusher can be seen in Figure 5. It is noted here that the mobile stone crusher shown in Figure 5 was made by the local people of Imogiri, Bantul

4 SIEVING PROCESS AND PRODUCT

Sieving process is required to separate the crushed rubble that can be treated as fine aggregate with the maximum diameter of 5 mm and the coarse aggre-gate with the maximum diameter of 40 mm as

shown in Figure 6. The product that does not meet the above criteria can be recrushed or is not used.

5 LABORATORY TEST

Laboratory tests were mainly carried out to find the optimum proportion between cement and the crushed rubble to minimize the production cost but still maintain the allowable compressive strength. For that purpose a series of compressive strength tests was carried out using different portions of ce-ment and crushed rubble that is treated as fine ag-gregate or coarse aggregate. The variation of por-tions of cement pc, fine aggregate fa and coarse aggregate ca are as follows; 1pc : 4 fa, 1pc : 6fa, 1pc : 8fa, 1pc : 10fa, 1 pc : 2 fa : 3 ca and 1pc : 3 fs : 5

Figure 2. Closed view of some damaged buildings.

ca. From the test results the recommended portions for making brick or concrete block is 1 pc : 8 fa and for making the wall by direct pour the recommended portion is 1 pc : 6 fa. The compressive strength comparison of the recommended portions with the compressive strengths of 21 specimens of bricks from markets around Yogyakarta (Segoroyoso, Plered, Banguntapan and Bantul) is shown in Figure 7. For other application such as for mortar between the brick, the required portion of cement and fine aggregate can be taken to be 1 pc : 4 fa.

6 MIXING AND MOULDING PROCESS

The mixing process is normally carried out manually using scoop and shovel as shown in Figure 8, but mixing process mechanically using concrete mixer can also be taken if the equipment is available. The moulding process can be done using three method, they are: 1) brick moulding method, 2) concrete block moulding method, 3) direct pour moulding method. Brick moulding method The composition of materials for brick as mentioned above is water, cement, and fine aggregate, which can be treated as mortar. The portion of cement and fine aggregate is 1pc : 8 fa, where the amount of wa-

ter is given in such amount that the mortar has an adequate workability. The brick moulding method can be explained as follows, see Figure 9. 1) Prepare the brick mold that can be made from

the exiting bricks by arranging them as check board.

2) Fill the gaps between bricks or the mould with the mortar and try to compact it.

3) Take the existing brick that surround the mortar or open the brick mould after filling the gap or the mould.

4) The brick can be lifted after one day and can be used for construction after seven days.

Concrete block moulding method The composition of materials for concrete block as mentioned above is water, cement, and fine aggre-gate or with other composition that is water, cement, fine aggregate and coarse aggregate, which can be treated as mortar or concrete. The portion of cement and fine aggregate is 1pc : 8 fa or the portion of ce-ment, fine aggregate and coarse aggregate is 1pc : 3 fa and 5 ca, where the amount of water is given in such amount that the mortar has an adequate worka-bility. The concrete block moulding method can be explained as follows, see Figure 10. 1) Prepare the concrete block mold or a parallel

concrete block mould, where the mould can be made of wood or steel.

Figure 3. Brick masonry wall rubble by the side of road.

Figure 4. Crushing the wall brick rubble manually.

2) Fill the mould with the mortar and try to com-pact it.

3) The concrete block can be lifted after one day and can be used for construction after seven days.

Direct pour moulding method The composition of materials for direct pour method as mentioned above is water, cement, and fine ag-

gregate or with other composition that is water, ce-ment, fine aggregate and coarse, which can be treated as mortar or concrete. The portion of cement and fine aggregate is 1pc : 8 fa or the portion of ce-ment, fine aggregate and coarse aggregate is 1pc : 3 fa and 5 ca, where the amount of water is given in such amount that the mortar has an adequate worka-bility. The direct pour moulding method can be ex-plained as follows, see Figure 11.

Figure 5. Crushing the wall brick rubble mechanically using mobile stone crusher.

Figure 6. Sieving process and the product in form of fine aggregate.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Specimen of brick from markets in Yogyakarta

Com

pres

sive

stre

ngth

(MPa

) Bricks in Yogyakarta markets

1 cement : 4 crushed rubble

1 cement : 6 crushed rubble

1 cement : 8 crushed rubble

Code (PUBI)

Figure 7. Test results of brick compressive strength.

1) Construct the foundation, the plinth reinforced concrete beam, and the reinforced concrete col-umns as required by the earthquake resistance building codes or manuals. The wall anchors must exist in the columns.

2) Put the door frames on their position. 3) Prepare the form work, where it is better to limit

the height is around 1 m. 4) If the form work is ready, pour the mortar in to

it and try to carry out compacting using stick of steel, wood or bamboo.

5) After one day (it would be better after three days), the form work can be dismantled.

6) Put the window frames on their positions if any, and arrange the form work for another higher position.

Repeat the above procedure until the required height is met, and the lintel reinforced concrete beam must be put on top of the wall and in the eave.

7 OTHER ALTERNATIVES

Beside recycling brick masonry wall rubble, recy-cling other material or apply other uncommon mate-rial for wall can be used such as: 1) broken roof tiles [Tjokrodimulyo (1992), Su-

pangat (1996)], 2) artificial aggregate from clay [Kadarusman

(1998), Wahyudi (1998)], 3) pumice aggregate [Sulistyowati (2000)], 4) cinder aggregate [Subkhannur (2002)], 5) limestone [Nugroho (2003)].

8 CONCLUSIONS

From the above discussions, the following conclu-sions can be made.

Figure 9. Brick moulding method using existing bricks as moulds.

1) The brick masonry wall rubble can be recycled to become material for wall such as brick, con-crete block or wall for direct pour.

2) Crushed brick masonry wall can be treated as fine aggregate that can be used for common mortar.

3) The recycled procedure can reduce the rebuild-ing cost and reduce the environmental impact.

4) The government is not necessary to spent a lot of money to clean up the brick masonry wall.

5) The process can be carried manually or me-chanically.

REFERENCES

Satyarno, I, 2004, The Application of Cement Con-tent for Lightweight Styrofoam Concrete, (in In-donesian) National Seminar of Innovation in Building Material Technology, Joint Cooperation between Department of Civil Engineering Gadjah

Mada University and PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk.

Satyarno, I, 2005, Lightweight Styrofoam Concrete Panel for Wall, (in Indonesian) Proceeding Na-tional Seminar of Research Development in Ma-terial and Process, Center of Engineering Study, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.

Kadarusman, 1998, Mixdesign of No Fines Aggre-gate using Clay Aggregate from Purwodadi, Final Report, Department of Civil Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.

Nugroho, A.S.B., 2003, No Fines Concrete using 5 mm – 10 mm Limestone Aggregate from Klaten, Final Report, Department of Civil Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.

Subkhannur, A., 2002, The Application Cinder Ag-gregate from Merapi Volcano for No Fines Con-crete, Final Report, Department of Civil Engi-neering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.

Sulistyowati, E.E., 2000, The Application of 5 mm-20mm Pumice Aggregate for No Fines Concrete,

Final Report, Department of Civil Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.

Supangat, 1996, The Application of Sand from Batang Hari River and Broken Roof Tile from Jambi for Mortan and No Fines Concrete, Final Report, Department of Civil Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.

Tjokrodimuljo, K., 1992, No Fines Concrete using Broken Ceramic Roof Tile, Research Report, De-partment of Civil Engineering, Gadjah Mada Uni-versity, Yogyakarta.

Figure 11. Direct pour moulding m

Figure 10. Concrete block moulding method using single or parallel mould.