The Behaviour of Load-Carrying Members from Cordwood

With the growing importance of sustainable construction in the world, cordwood is gaining additional interest as a building material for load-bearing structures. The number of studies on cordwood is limited; there is a lack of information on cordwood design methods, including in the case of fire exposure. The design methods for axially compressed load-carrying cordwood members, including in the case of fire action, are described and supplied by the numerical examples. Numerical and laboratory experiments are carried out to clarify the behaviour of cordwood under pressure with different types of binder. For the analysis of cordwood’s load-bearing capacity, the equivalent composite material (rubble masonry) calculation method is proposed. The analytical method for designing cordwood in the case of fire action is based on a combination of the reduced cross-section method and the 500 isotherm method. It is stated that the use of low- or medium-high-strength mortar (up to 10 MPa) for cordwood is the most rational and economical. Additionally, it is shown that 40 cm thick cordwood could be used as a material for load-carrying walls for two-storey buildings and provide very high fire resistance—R180, in the case of a double-sided fire action.

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