Browsing by Author "Galkanda, GAHH"

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item: Conference-Abstract
Analysis of the performance of existing wall finishers to enhance the durability of different walling materials against rain surface erosion
Galkanda, GAHH; Gunawardana, SAA; Halwathura, RU
Present building construction sector use different walling materials with different surface roughness values. With the increase of surface roughness, durability of the material reduces, while increasing the biological growth; such as moss and fungus, on walls. Therefore it was recommended wall smoothing as a sustainable solution to increase the durability of building walls. Wall care putty and lime can be identified as the most common wall finishers apply in the present construction sector. This study was conducted in order to analyze the durability performance of existing wall finishers to enhance the durability of walling materials. For the study, five materials were selected including four different walling materials; brick, cement block, cement stabilized earth block and mud concrete block, and a common wall plastering material; rough cement plaster. Ten different wall finishing mixtures; prepared by mixing lime, three different wall care putty products and cement according to the mix design, were selected as wall finishers. Prepared ten wall finishing mixtures were applied on selected walling materials and subjected to the spray erosion test which simulated ten year rain in to one hour time period. At the end of the test pit depths and scaled off material mass were measured and scaled off factor was calculated. According to the results scaled off factor is lowest in lime and in wall care putty it reduces with the increase of cement percentage. Lime is the most durable wall finisher according to the results. And wall putty layer also protect the walling material against rain surface erosion. Therefore it is concluded as existing wall finishers enhance the durability of different walling materials against rain surface erosion.
item: Conference-Full-text
Investigation of fungus growth and moss growth on different wall care putty materials along with different walling materials
(IEEE, 2020-07) Gunawardanaa, SAA; Galkanda, GAHH; Halwatura, RU; Weeraddana, C; Edussooriya, CUS; Abeysooriya, RP
Cement and sand are two of the materials which are used in the infrastructure development and are also main components of masonry coatings. Nevertheless, negative impacts indicated by these materials are crucial. Cement production accounts for considerable amount of global CO2 emissions while sand mining activities disturb the natural equilibrium. However, cement and sand consumption can be considerably reduced by omitting wall plastering. In order to accomplish the requirement of smoothing the wall, application of wall care putty materials to an unplastered wall can be considered as a sustainable solution. This research study was conducted to investigate the fungus growth and moss growth on different wall care putty materials along with different walling materials. Four types of walling materials and ten types of wall care putty mixtures were selected. Fungus growth and moss growth were conducted in controlled environment to accelerate fungus growth and moss growth on wall care putty materials. Results of this study showed that wall care putty mixtures were not prone to fungus growth under tropical climatic conditions. Moss growth was present on wall care putty mixtures and there was an impact from the walling material to the growth of moss on the surface of putty application
item: Conference-Full-text
A study on natural rain surface erosion of different walling materials in tropics
(IEEE, 2018-05) Udawattha, CD; Galkanda, GAHH; Halwatura, RU; Chathuranga, D
This study presents most common phenomena observed on wall facades due to excessive rain in tropical climatic condition in Sri Lanka. The objective of this study is to understand the effect surface decay of walling materials. The most common walling materials such as brick, cement block, earth cement blocks and novel walling materials mud concrete block, geopolymer blocks were subjected to this study. Faade covering materials such as rough cement plaster and cement slurry plaster were studied. Intrinsic material properties were studied prior to natural rain erosion quantification. Basic engineering properties of water absorption, capillary action, surface roughness, compressive strength was studied. Material properties such as water absorption, surface roughness were studied. Ten years of rain was simulated to measure natural surface decay. The results show that, stronger materials and less surface rough materials are resistant to surface decay. Plastering is recommended to protect walling materials reduce the surface decay. Comparatively stronger walling materials are less prone to natural rain decay. Cement plasters and cement slurry plaster covering is the most suitable materials for heavy rain. Cement slurry plaster is the most suitable walling covering for rain drop bouncing areas in outdoor walls in Sri Lanka.