Clamping and interlocking effects on IBS block house system in comparison with conventional house system

Industrialised Building System (IBS) is a unique construction technique that has been implemented in many construction fields all around the world. However, its implementation in Malaysia is still slow and not effective. Through the research on IBS, some elements are found to be important and need to be improved in order to produce better quality components. One of the important elements is the design and innovation of IBS components by applying new interlocking configuration between blocks and by using a clamping bolted connection to the system. The main objective of this research is to determine the structural behavior of IBS block works sub-system under push over cyclic loading in comparison with conventional sub-system and to verify that the IBS interlocking geometry sub-system perform better than other sub-systems via laboratory tests. In this research, a block work assembly to form building sub-frame that integrated by two beams, two columns and infill system were built and tested to failure. Two types of IBS block work sub-systems with original geometry and interlocking geometry with scaled of 1:5 were tested with Push Over Cyclic Load Test. In comparison, a control model of Conventional Sub-System was also tested and analysed using the same methods. The results showed that the IBS geometry model with interlocking configuration performed better in terms of stiffness, ductility and flexibility of the models. The IBS original geometry model is ductile but lack structural stiffness while the conventional model is stiff but not ductile