COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is intended to cover the basic design of structural elements constructed of masonry and timber. The extensive use of masonry and timber in building construction renders the course on design of masonry and timber structures an important part in training of a well-rounded and practical degree in Civil engineering. Naturally, the course is divided into two parts, namely masonry and timber.

COURSE JUSTIFICATION/RATIONALE

The course presents design standards, live, dead and lateral load development, structural systems for timber and masonry structures and design of wood and masonry components

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this course, the student should be able to:

·        Understand characteristics of compressive strength of masonry.

·        Design structural masonry and timber structure

·        Understand possible causes and modes of structural failure in brick/block walls and timber members

·        Get exposed to the analysis of prestressed masonry structures

LEARNING OUTCOMES

A student on completing this course is expected to:

·        Appreciate the problems associated with Uganda’s most used materials for construction of walls and roofs of permanent structures. i.e. bricks and timber and challenged to find their solution.

·        Demonstrate understanding of the behaviour of bricks, blocks, mortar and Timber and be able to predict their behaviour under all the expected loading and environmental conditions

·        Analyze brick and timber structures

·        Design walls for vertical and lateral loading and design timber beams columns, and truss members