Influence of sand grading on the characteristics of mortars and soil–cement block masonry

Sand constitutes bulk of the mortar volume. Sand grading can influence the characteristics of mortar and masonry. Influence of sand grading on the characteristics of two types of mortars and soil–cement block masonry are examined in this paper. Three different sand gradings were used to examine the workability, strength, water retentivity, drying shrinkage and stress–strain characteristics of cement mortar and cement–lime mortar. Bond strength, compressive strength and stress–strain characteristics of soil–cement block masonry were also examined using these mortars. Major findings of the study are: (a) for a given consistency mortar with fine sand requires 25–30% more water, (b) as the sand becomes fine mortar compressive strength and modulus decreases while drying shrinkage increases, (c) fine sand reduces the tensile bond strength of masonry, whereas masonry compressive strength is not sensitive to sand grading variations and (d) masonry modulus reduces as the sand used in the mortar becomes finer.