DISCUSSION ON THE CONTROL ON TEMPERATURE CRACKS OF BLOCK MASONRY STRUCTURE USING COMPRESSIVE PRESTRESS

Small-sized concrete hollow block is a new-style material which was widely applied in dwelling house in our country. But the practice bears out that concrete hollow block masonry building is easy to crack on the top wall because of temperature stress. The cause of temperature cracks of block masonry structure was analyzed. Furthermore, an effective technique, by which a prestress can be used to control the temperature cracks of the block masonry wall, was presented.Experimental study indicates that this technique can effectively improve crack-resistance behavior and shear capacity of the wall. The design and construction suggestions and detailing measures of prestressed masonry structure were also proposed.