CRACKING ANALYSIS BY NUMERICAL METHODS AS A TOOL FOR DESIGN OF BRICK FAÇADES

The façades of the buildings represent the exterior image and must comply the requirements of stability, insulation and waterproofing. One of the biggest problems of a brick facade are the problems of its mechanical behavior against external actions. One consequence of this behavior is the appearance of cracks. These may appear on the façades that are not designed properly. The appearance of cracks involves sealing and insulation problems, in addition to damaging the image of the buildings and create uncertainty among users of buildings.

When designing a brick facade, the compliance of the standards construction does not always ensure complete absence of cracks in buildings. Up to now the study of building façades has been made evidencing compliance with the basic rules and studying construction details. With this traditional methodology the appearance of cracks in the facade panels are not visualized by the students. This teaching experience is based on the use of tools to visualize cracking façades from given conditions.

Numerical methods allow us to provide current movements experienced by the facade against the action of vertical loads and horizontal loads, such as wind or earthquake, and also show the appearance in the facade cracking. The student makes a practice using computer models with different façades. Thus, the student interacts with different geometries and obtains tensions maps, diagrams of deformation and cracking. From this study the student can obtain conclusions about the behavior of the enclosure by varying the geometry or applied loads.
This teaching method allows the student to understand the mechanisms of appearance of cracks. Therefore, the student is able to suggest improvements to the design of the facade to prevent cracking. The teaching team is convinced that the use of mathematical models is a great tool for learning as demonstrated in other fields of architecture.