PRE-STRESSED BEAMS - SINGLE LINTELS

Pre-stressed brick beam can be used for very large spans. Evaluations of brick beams' sections show that pre-stressed brick beam rarely has any tensile stress and that they are normally no cracks.

Pre-stressed brick beams ensure:

• That no displacement cracks appear through support
• That brick beams never lay or press on window and door frames

The crossbars - the masonry on which the brick beams lay - must be placed in the first layer on both sides on at least 3/4 bricks, and at the end, on at least 1/2 bricks.

SOLUTIONS WITH PRE-STRESSED BRICK BEAMS

The Hørning City Hall was built with red RT 307 machine-processed ”hand-made bricks”. The longest pre-stressed brick beam is 5 bricks long, 9 layers high and 8.84-m long. The pre-stressed brick beams have a visible side on both exterior sides.

Pre-stressed brick beams treated with slurry plaster are supporting beams in finished buildings. Each beam is 4 bricks wide (47 cm), 10layers high and has a visible side on both exterior sides.

A pre-stressed brick beam treated with slurry plaster is 3 1/2-brick wide (41 cm) and 9.25-cm long. The pre-stressed brick beam has a visible side on both exterior sides. Carlsberg Bjælker have produced some pre-stressed brick beams with over a 12metre span.

The longest pre-stressed brick beam in free-standing masonry has a span of 7.93 m. To bear the wind load, there are wall binders inserted between the two wall braces, so that a grid effect is obtained in the hollow wall structure. The two lowest layers of the brick beams are 41 cm wide.