Influence of mortars comprised of manufactured sand with offshore sand on the performance of masonry and brick–mortar joint

Emerging environmental problems are identified due to the improper sand extraction near the riverbeds for the construction activities. This research was involved with completely replacing river sand by alternatives in masonry works. Manufactured sand and offshore sand were utilized as the substitutions for river sand and incorporated in mortars in the forms of manufactured sand alone and blending of both alternatives. Cement–sand and lime–cement–sand mortars were prepared to fabricate the masonry specimens and brick–mortar joints. The mechanical characteristics of masonry and brick–mortar joints were investigated using the available standards. The compressive and flexural strengths of masonry were greatly improved by the mortars included manufactured sand alone and the blended sand mortars. The diagonal tensile strength of masonry with the alternatives showed conflicting trends. Shear and adhesive strengths of brick–mortar joint were significantly advanced by the alternative mortars. Fine aggregate properties such as angularity, surface roughness and packing density were correlated with the masonry properties and some models were proposed to evaluate the rationale behind these effects.