Strength Characteristics, Ultrasonic Wave Velocity, and the Correlation between Them in Clay Bricks under Dry and Saturated Conditions.

One of the methods used to discover the development of deterioration in bricks used as a construction material in a building is the monitoring of the bricks' strength characteristics over time. However, measuring the strength characteristics of bricks used in a building requires sampling for performing laboratory tests, which is not possible in some cases. As an alternative, ultrasonic wave velocity can be a useful, nondestructive tool for the indirect assessment of the strength characteristics of the bricks. In the present study, six different samples of clay bricks before utilization as construction materials in buildings located in Khorramabad City (Lorestan Province, western Iran) were collected. The mineralogical composition of the samples was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. As one common physical characteristic of the construction materials, the porosity (n) of the samples was measured. Next, the strength characteristics, including uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), and P-wave velocity (Vp), of the samples under dry and saturated conditions were determined. It was found that after the saturation of the samples, considerable decreases in the UCS and BTS and increases in the Vp occurred, respectively. By comparing the values of the UCS, BTS, and Vp of the samples under dry and saturated conditions, we found that the integrity loss for the UCS and BTS was higher than for the Vp. Results showed that the integrity loss of the UCS, BTS, and Vp was significantly affected by the n and clay mineral (CM) content of the samples. Considering the dry or saturated condition of the samples, there are good correlations with acceptable accuracy levels between the Vp and the UCS and BTS, with coefficients of determination (R2) varying from 0.95 to 0.98. Consequently, our findings showed that establishing UCS and BTS predictive equations for bricks before their use as a construction material can be a worthy, practical tool for monitoring the deterioration of bricks over time after their utilization in a building.

Characterization of textile effluent treatment plant sludge and its industrial application in fired clay bricks with health risk assessment.

The textile industry in Bangladesh faces environmental and health challenges due to the disposal of solid waste from Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs). To address this issue, a study was conducted using soil from a brick industry near Dhaka, amending it with varying amounts of dry sludge to create clay bricks. The original soil had a loam texture and medium plasticity. The research found that adding 9 wt% of sludge resulted in Grade A commercial bricks with a compressive strength of 15.33 MPa and water absorption of 13.33 wt%, meeting BDS 208 standards. However, these sludge-incorporated bricks experienced more shrinkage during the burning process due to organic content, requiring additional soil to maintain conventional dimensions. Also, to assess the health hazards of these sludge-incorporated bricks, a leaching test was performed, revealing that no toxic heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn) in the leachate exceeded the limits set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The study indicates that textile ETP sludge can serve as a sustainable raw material for bricks, potentially reducing the environmental burden caused by textile sludge disposal by 28.75%. This innovative approach offers a promising solution to both environmental and health concerns associated with textile waste in Bangladesh's industrial sector.

Properties of concrete mixes containing tire rubber and brick powder exposed to sulfuric acid and cured in water: A comparative study.

The existing literature shows that rubberised concrete suffers from reduced mechanical properties when it is compared with normal density non-rubberised concrete. This is due to the underlying reduced bonding between tire rubber and other concrete ingredients. The massive sulfuric acid attack in rubberised concrete must have additionally discouraged researchers from attempts to assess the phenomenon of improving performance of rubberised concrete. A research was undertaken to compare the properties of concrete mixes containing tire rubber replacing coarse aggregate and waste clay brick powder (WCBP) replacing cement exposed to sulfuric acid and cured in water. Concrete cubes and cylinders of concrete grades of 20 MPa, 25 MPa and 30 MPa were immersed in 5% sulfuric acid solution up to 90 days following moist curing of 27 days. Other concrete cubes and cylinders were cured in water for comparison. The compressive strength findings indicated that all the specimens exposed to sulfuric acid had lost more than 57% of their compressive strengths after 90 days with reference to the corresponding samples cured in water. In contrast, out of all concrete mixes investigated for all concrete grades, never were the split tensile strength losses of the specimens exposed to sulfuric acid greater than 43.1% compared with those cured in water. In each exposure condition, concrete mixes with 5% WCBP showed slight improvements in compressive and split tensile strengths in contrast with the conventional concrete mixes. Visual inspection of the specimens illustrated depositions of flaky or white substances on the outer layers of specimens exposed to sulfuric acid compared with specimens cured in water. Moreover, the split tensile strengths of specimens were not severely affected with exposure to sulfuric acid in comparison with compressive strengths. Eventually, the research identified the existence of WCBP in rubberised concrete as a promising criterion of minimising strength losses of rubberised concrete.

Behaviour of rubberised concrete with waste clay brick powder under varying curing conditions.

Recently, there has been a worldwide scarcity of pure water for curing concrete and this has called for alternative curing conditions including utilisation of sea water. An experimental study was conducted to examine the mechanical behaviour of rubberised concrete with waste clay brick powder (WCBP) under different conditions of curing including water and sea water. The samples of rubberised concrete incorporated with WCBP were cured in water and sea water for 90 days curing period. The findings showed that the conventional and modified concrete mixtures which were cured in sea water illustrated reduced compressive and split tensile strengths compared with corresponding mixes cured in water. Among specimens cured in each curing condition, concrete mixes with 5% WCBP showed increased compressive and split tensile strengths compared with the control concrete mixes. The lowest compressive and split tensile strength findings were noticed with rubberised concrete incorporated with WCBP. The comparisons of densities of specimens cured in water and sea water showed no significant distinctions between the curing conditions. Compressive strength seemed to be less sensitive to conditions of curing compared with split tensile strength. From the findings, minor reductions in compressive strengths for samples cured in sea water compared with those cured in water were suggested to be reflections of possibility of utilising sea water as a curing agent in areas where pure water is very scarce. The findings in this study seem to suggest that the use of sea water in concrete curing should not be feared and could be welcome, particularly in offshore constructions and isolated islands.

Prediction of Stress-Strain Curves for HFRP Composite Confined Brick Aggregate Concrete under Axial Load.

Recently, hemp-fiber-reinforced polymer (HFRP) composites have been developed to enhance the strength and ductility of normal and lightweight aggregate concrete along with recycled brick aggregate concrete. In addition, both experimental and analytical investigations have been performed to assess the suitability of the existing strength and strain models. However, the theoretical and analytical expressions to predict the stress-strain curves of HFRP-confined concrete were not developed. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to develop analytical expressions to predict the stress-strain curves of HFRP-confined waste brick aggregate concrete. For this purpose, a new experimental framework was conducted to examine the effectiveness of HFRP in improving the mechanical properties of concrete constructed with recycled brick aggregates. Depending on the strength of the concrete, two groups were formed, i.e., Type-1 concrete and Type-2 concrete. A total of sixteen samples were tested. The ultimate compressive strength and strain significantly increased due to HFRP confinement. Improvements of up to 272% and 457% in the ultimate compressive strength and strain were observed due to hemp confinement, respectively. To predict the ultimate compressive strength and strain of HFRP-confined concrete, this study investigated several existing analytical stress-strain models. Some of the strength models resulted in close agreement with experimental results, but none of the models could accurately predict the ultimate confined strain. Nonlinear regression analysis was conducted to propose expressions to predict the ultimate compressive strength and strain of HFRP-confined concrete. The proposed expressions resulted in good agreement with experimental results. An analytical procedure was proposed to predict the stress-strain curves of hemp-confined concrete constructed by partial replacement of natural coarse aggregates by recycled fired-clay brick aggregates. A close agreement was found between the experimental and analytically predicted stress-strain curves.

Recycled Fine Aggregates from Mortar Debris and Red Clay Brick to Fabricate Masonry Mortars: Mechanical Analysis.

In this research, the mechanical behavior of masonry mortars made with partial substitution of sand by recycled fine aggregates (RFAs) of mortar (MT) and recycled clay brick (RCB) was compared. Mortar specimens were built in two groups (MT and RCB) considering different replacement proportions by dry weight. To reduce the water absorption of RFAs during mortar making, the prewetting method was utilized. All the mixtures were assembled with a volumetric cement-to-aggregate ratio of 1:4 and a consistency of 175 ± 5 mm. The properties in the fresh and hardening state of mortars were analyzed separately. The experimental results showed that the properties of mortars in a fresh state (bulk density and air content) were affected if RFA was added to the mixture; however, mortars assembled with up to 40% and 50% of MT and RCB, respectively, accomplished a compressive strength value of reference for new mixtures. Both mortar groups showed good results in adhesive strength values, with the RCB mortars standing up as they achieved greater adherence than the control mortar with substitution percentages of up to 30%. Therefore, the reutilization of both RFAs is feasible, notably in rendering and bonding functions.

Eco-friendly ceramic bricks: a comparative study of life cycle impact methods.

The growing need for natural resources for the production of inputs for construction, such as ceramic bricks, as well as the high rates of solid waste generation in the sector, makes construction an industrial segment with unfavorable environmental effects. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) emerges as a tool capable of assisting in the quantification and analysis of the impacts associated with construction materials, whether traditional or alternative. Thus, the goal of this paper is to assess the environmental impacts associated with the development of alternative building materials. To compare the conventional and the alternative bricks, both were evaluated according to the LCIA methods Ecoindicator 99, IMPACT 2002+, and ReCiPe 2016, in the midpoint and endpoint levels. The sensitivity analysis was carried out considering as an alternative input for the firing process, a mixture composed of wood and biomass originating from the Pennisetum purpureum. According to Ecoindicator 99 method, the categories respiratory organics, fossil fuels, and radiation stand out, which showed greater sensitivity in altering the input used in the firing process, reducing their impacts by 38.38%, 34.68%, and 31.81%, respectively, when comparing product III (ceramic brick incorporated with OSPW and submitted to the firing process with the mix of wood and Pennisetum purpureum) and product I (ceramic brick incorporated with OSPW and submitted to the traditional firing process). In addition, in the respiratory organics category, the IMPACT 2002+ method showed a reduction of approximately 43% of the impacts associated with product III, when compared to the product with the greatest impact in this category. In a global analysis of the results presented by the ReCiPe 2016 method, the product III had the lowest associated environmental impact when compared to the other evaluated systems.

Assessment of Limestone Waste Addition for Fired Clay Bricks.

Our aim was to investigate the feasibility of using limestone waste resulting from stone processing for the manufacturing of fired clay bricks. Waste materials were considered as a partial replacement for clays to reduce the exploitation of natural resources and as a response to the climate neutrality commitments. The samples were prepared to have a waste content of up to 15% and were fired at a temperature of 900 °C. The chemical and mineralogical composition and the physical analysis of raw materials were investigated by using SEM-EDS and XRD diffraction. The result showed an increase in CaO in the clay mixture due to the presence of limestone, which reduced the shrinkage of the products' compressive strength, up to 55% for samples with a higher content of limestone (15 wt.%), and influenced the samples' color by making them lighter than the reference sample.

Preliminary Feasibility Investigation on Reutilization of Recycled Crushed Clay Bricks from Construction and Demolition Waste for Cement-Stabilized Macadam.

Utilizing recycled crushed clay brick (RCB) from C&D waste in road engineering construction as the substitute for natural aggregates has attracted a lot of attention, which would be a promising step forward towards sustainable development and green construction. The objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of cement-stabilized macadam (CSM), incorporating various RCB fine aggregate substitution ratios. For this purpose, the physical and chemical properties of RCB fine aggregate was tested, and RCB exhibited a porous surface micro-morphology, high water absorption and pozzolanic activity. Subsequently, a comprehensive experimental investigation of modified CSM with RCB has been carried out based on laboratory tests concerning the mechanical and shrinkage properties. Results showed that higher RCB fine aggregate substitution ratio resulted in lower unconfined compressive strength, and the negative influence of RCB on unconfined compressive strength would decrease gradually, varying curing time; however, the higher the RCB substitution ratio was, the larger the indirect tensile strength at 90 d curing time of the late curing period was. CSM containing RCB had an overall increasing accumulative water loss rate, accumulative strain of dry shrinkage and average coefficient of dry shrinkage, except that 20% RCB resulted in an excellent dry shrinkage property. Moreover, RCB with pozzolanic activity reacted very slowly mainly at later ages, enhancing the interfacial transition zone.

Research and TLS (LiDAR) Construction Diagnostics of Clay Brick Masonry Arched Stairs.

The study presents the terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) diagnostic of the clay brick masonry arched staircase in a historic building. Based on the measurements of the existing arched stair flights, 1:1 scale experimental models with and without stair treads were made. Strength tests of the models were carried out for different concentrated force locations in relation to the supporting structure. Force, deflections and reaction in the upper support of the run were measured during the tests. The influence of the masonry steps on the curved vault on the load capacity and stiffness of the run structure was analyzed. The conducted experimental investigations showed that the key element responsible for the actual load-bearing capacity and stiffness of this type of stair flights were the treads above the masonry arch.

Utilization of Construction and Demolition Mix Waste in the Fired Brick Production: The Impact on Mechanical Properties.

The European Green Deal, which emphasizes zero-waste economies, and waste recycling in construction and building materials, has arisen due to significant worldwide needs for solid waste recovery and usage. This ambitious study focuses on recycling mixed construction and demolition (C&D) waste into burnt bricks and investigating the influence of firing temperature. While pursuing its objectives, this is dependent on raw material characterization and burnt-brick product quality assessment. The recycling of mixed C&D waste is explored by mixing the waste into two soil types (alluvial and laterite) in ratios ranging from 5% to 45% at three firing temperatures (700 °C, 850 °C and 900 °C). The utilization of mixed C&D waste in amounts of 10% at 700 °C and 25% at 850 °C and 900 °C fulfilled the Indian standard. Although a fire at 700 °C results in less optimal waste utilization, it is beneficial and recommended for reducing the carbon footprint and energy use. Additional mineralogical and microstructural analyzes are performed on the optimal fired samples. The study's findings are promising for sustainable resource usage, reducing carbon footprint, and reducing waste disposal volume. This research is a big step toward the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and a circular economy.

Response surface methodology-based optimisation of cost and compressive strength of rubberised concrete incorporating burnt clay brick powder.

Modified concrete is increasingly being produced by substituting concrete constituents with waste materials. Among waste materials are powder from waste clay bricks replacing Ordinary Portland Cement and Waste Tire Rubber (WTR) replacing natural coarse aggregate. However, the use of modified concrete is controlled by its cost-performance balance. This paper investigates the cost advantages of using rubberised concrete incorporated with Burnt Clay Brick Powder (BCBP) where findings are evaluated in comparison with conventional concrete. In this study, compressive strength of rubberised concrete containing BCBP was investigated using mixes generated by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Central Composite Design (CCD) based on RSM was used to assess the influence of replacement variables of BCBP (0-5%) and WTR (0-20%) on concrete production cost and concrete compressive strength responses. First order and second order mathematical models were developed by RSM with findings from experimental design. The accuracy of the mathematical models established by CCD was tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Desirability analysis was then employed to optimise BCBP and WTR contents yielding maximum compressive strength at lower cost. Moreover, under the established optimum conditions, the performance of the optimum independent variables was experimentally verified by testing 6 cubes. Production cost of concrete containing these waste materials reduced up to 4.23% compared to conventional concrete. RSM evaluation demonstrated that the empirical findings were well suited into linear and quadratic models for cost and compressive strength responses respectively. The coefficients of determination of greater than 0.85 for all responses established that the models were capable of explaining variability in the responses. 5% BCBP and 6.875% WTR were optimum contents establishing maximum 7-days compressive strength of 27.607 MPa at lower cost of KSh 13 718.43. Optimisation of cost and 28-days compressive strength from desirability analysis gave 5% BCBP and 5.844% WTR contents as optimum values. This optimum combination resulted to maximum compressive strength of 33.970 MPa and lower cost of KSh 13 734.64. Verification of the model findings indicated considerable agreement with the verified values. From the findings, it was confirmed that a reasonable cost-performance balance for modified concrete can be achieved using BCBP and WTR.

Bond Tests on Clay Bricks and Natural Stone Masonry Externally Bonded with FRP.

Nowadays, the solution of durability problems of existing buildings has a key role in civil engineering, in which there is an ever-increasing need for building restorations. Over the past 50 years, there is a growing interest in a new composite material, fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP), suitable for increasing the resistance and the stability of existing buildings and, consequently, for extending their service life. In this context, the effectiveness of the strengthening system is related to the bond behaviour that is influenced by several parameters such as bond length, the stiffness of the reinforcement, the mechanical properties of the substrate, environmental conditions, etc. This paper aims to analyse the main experimental results from shear tests performed on two kinds of masonry substrates and different types of FRP reinforcements. The purpose is to highlight the role played by many parameters to the bond behaviour of these systems: the mechanical properties of substrates; the stiffness of reinforcements; the type of supports (i.e., unit or masonry unit). The obtained experimental results underlined that the specimens realised with masonry unit show an increase in debonding load and different stress transfer mechanisms along the bonded length with respect to the specimens with a unit substrate. The analysis of the data revealed that the presence of mortar joints cannot be neglected because it influences the interface global performance.

Ductility performance of reinforced rubberised concrete beams incorporating burnt clay powder.

Application of rubberised concrete in earthquake prone areas is of significant importance. Although investigations have been conducted to research on the ductility of rubberised concrete, the behaviour of rubberised concrete with Burnt Clay Brick Powder (BCBP) is not well understood. This paper captures the ductility behaviour of rubberised concrete containing BCBP. In this study, 3 beams were investigated in flexure while the other 3 beams were made to fail in shear and flexure. For the beams that failed in flexure, ductility of concrete beams containing 5% BCBP and 10% Waste Tire Rubber (WTR) improved by 23.47% compared to control beam. This increase in ductility was evidenced with only 15.31% reduction in flexural load. Moreover, the beam containing 5% BCBP and 10% WTR failing in shear and flexure exhibited 14.59% ductility improvement with 16.33% load reduction in comparison to the control beam. Eventually, the study concluded that it is possible to achieve improved ductility without substantial loss in ultimate failure load by using 5% BCBP and 10% WTR. Such properties demonstrated that this rubberised concrete with 5% BCBP can be used in seismic applications.

Impact of Induction Furnace Steel Slag as Replacement for Fired Clay Brick Aggregate on Flexural and Durability Performances of RC Beams.

This research investigates the flexural and durability performances of reinforced concrete (RC) beams made with induction furnace steel slag aggregate (IFSSA) as a replacement for fired clay brick aggregate (FCBA). To achieve this, 27 RC beams (length: 750 mm, width: 125 mm, height: 200 mm) were made with FCBA replaced by IFSSA at nine replacement levels of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 80%, and 100% (by volume). Flexural tests of RC beams were conducted by a four-point loading test, where the deflection behavior of the beams was monitored through three linear variable displacement transducers (LVDT). The compressive strength and durability properties (i.e., porosity, resistance to chloride ion penetration, and capillary water absorption) were assessed using the same batch of concrete mix used to cast RC beams. The experimental results have shown that the flexural load of RC beams made with IFSSA was significantly higher than the control beam (100% FCBA). The increment of the flexural load was proportional to the content of IFSSA, with an increase of 27% for the beam made with 80% IFSSA than the control beam. The compressive strength of concrete increased by 56% and 61% for the concrete made with 80% and 100% IFSSA, respectively, than the control concrete, which is in good agreement with the flexural load of RC beams. Furthermore, the porosity, resistance to chloride ion penetration, and capillary water absorption were inversely proportional to the increase in the content of IFSSA. For instance, porosity, chloride penetration, and water absorption decreased by 43%, 54%, and 68%, respectively, when IFSSA entirely replaced FCBA. This decreasing percentage of durability properties is in agreement with the flexural load of RC beams. A good linear relationship of porosity with chloride penetration resistance and capillary water absorption was observed.

Potential re-use of sewage sludge as a raw material in the production of eco-friendly bricks.

Wastewater (sewage) treatment plants generate a high volume of sludge that, although it is classified as class II-A (not inert) non-hazardous waste, is commonly disposed of in sanitary landfills. Hence the environmental urge to assess its valorization possibilities. The present study describes the use of a sewage sludge as raw material in the production of red ceramic bricks by extrusion, focusing on the technological changes brought about by the presence of the sludge during the plastic forming process, in terms of the plasticity of the mixture and its subsequent extrudability. To quantitatively identify the best moisture conditions for the extrusion of high-quality products, shear strain amplitude sweep (torsional) tests were conducted on green (moist) prismatic samples produced with different moisture and sludge contents. For sewage sludge contents up to 10 wt%, the optimal moisture content was identified at 31-33 wt%. Higher water demand was identified for 15 wt% of sludge, for which optimal extrusion results required 35 wt% moisture. The total linear shrinkage after drying and firing, as well as the water absorption, were within the limits required for ceramic bricks for all the sludge contents. The results for compressive strength of the fired bricks also demonstrate that the incorporation of up to 15 wt% sewage sludge into the clay mixture is highly feasible for the production of extruded ceramic bricks.

Assessment of the Suitability of Ceramic Waste in Geopolymer Composites: An Appraisal.

Currently, novel inorganic alumino-silicate materials, known as geopolymer composites, have emerged swiftly as an ecobenevolent alternative to contemporary ordinary Portland cement (OPC) building materials since they display superior physical and chemical attributes with a diverse range of possible potential applications. The said innovative geopolymer technology necessitates less energy and low carbon footprints as compared to OPC-based materials because of the incorporation of wastes and/or industrial byproducts as binders replacing OPC. The key constituents of ceramic are silica and alumina and, hence, have the potential to be employed as an aggregate to manufacture ceramic geopolymer concrete. The present manuscript presents a review of the performance of geopolymer composites incorporated with ceramic waste, concerning workability, strength, durability, and elevated resistance evaluation.

Influence of Gypsum Waste Utilization on Properties and Leachability of Fired Clay Brick.

Wastewater treatment activities in the chemical industry have generated abundant gypsum waste, classified as scheduled waste (SW205) under the Environmental Quality Regulations 2005. The waste needs to be disposed into a secure landfill due to the high heavy metals content which is becoming a threat to the environment. Hence, an alternative disposal method was evaluated by recycling the waste into fired clay brick. The brick samples were incorporated with different percentages of gypsum waste (0% as control, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50%) and were fired at 1050 °C using 1 °C per minute heating rate. Shrinkage, dry density, initial rate of suction (IRS) and compressive strength tests were conducted to determine the physical and mechanical properties of the brick, while the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP) was performed to scrutinize the leachability of heavy metals from the crushed brick samples. The results showed that the properties would decrease through the incorporation of gypsum waste and indicated the best result at 10% of waste utilization with 47.5% of shrinkage, 1.37% of dry density, 22.87% of IRS and 28.3% of compressive strength. In addition, the leachability test highlighted that the concentrations of Fe and Al was significantly reduced up to 100% from 4884 to 3.13 ppm (Fe) and from 16,134 to 0.81 ppm (Al), respectively. The heavy metals content in the bricks were oxidized during the firing process, which signified the successful remediation of heavy metals in the samples. Based on the permissible incorporation of gypsum waste into fired clay brick, this study promised a more green disposing method for gypsum waste, and insight as a potential towards achieving a sustainable end product.

Strength Properties of Sustainable Mortar Containing Waste Steel Slag and Waste Clay Brick: Effect of Temperature.

The use of waste streams for the production of sustainable cement-based materials cannot be overemphasized. This study investigates the feasibility of reusing waste steel slag (WSS) and waste clay brick (WCB) as a replacement for natural sand (NS) in mortar. Numerous studies have reported mainly the compressive strength of concrete/mortar, while limited research is available that focuses on the tensile and flexural strength of mortar, and especially the performance at elevated temperature. Hence, this study investigates the tensile and flexural strength of mortar with three different replacement percentages (0, 50 and 100% by volume of NS) of NS by WSS and WCB at normal temperature (without thermal treatment) and after exposure to elevated temperatures (250, 400 and 600 °C). At ambient condition, both tensile and flexural strength were enhanced as the WSS content increased (76 and 68%, respectively, at 100% WSS). In comparison, the strength increased at 50% WCB (25 and 37%, accordingly) and decreased at 100% WCB (23 and 20%, respectively) compared to 100% NS. At elevated temperatures, both the tensile and flexural strength of mortar mixes decreased significantly at 600 °C.

Research on the Influence of Bed Joint Reinforcement on Strength and Deformability of Masonry Shear Walls.

The areas of Central and Eastern Europe and, thus, Poland are not exposed to the effects of seismic actions. Any possible tremors can be caused by coal or copper mining. Wind, rheological effects, the impact of other objects, or a nonuniform substrate are the predominant types of loading included in the calculations for stiffening walls. The majority of buildings in Poland, as in most other European countries, are low, medium-high brick buildings. Some traditional materials, like solid brick (> 10% of construction materials market) are still used, but autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) and cement-sand calcium-silicate (Ca-Si) elements with thin joints are prevailing (> 70% of the market) on the Polish market. Adding reinforcement only to bed joints in a wall is a satisfactory solution (in addition to confining) for seismic actions occurring in Poland that improves ULS (ultimate limit state) and SLS (serviceability limit state). This paper presents results from our own tests on testing horizontal shear walls without reinforcement and with different types of reinforcement. This discussion includes 51 walls made of solid brick (CB) reinforced with steel bars and steel trusses and results from tests on 15 walls made of calcium-silicate (Ca-Si) and AAC masonry units reinforced with steel trusses and plastic meshes. Taking into account our own tests and those conducted by other authors, empirical relationships were determined on the basis of more than 90 walls. They are applicable to the design and construction phases to determine the likely effect of reinforcements on cracking stress that damage shear deformation and wall stiffness.