Santa Clara University Scholar Commons Civil Engineering Senior Theses Engineering Senior Theses 6-13-2015 Interlocking concrete masonry unit geometry design Raquel Avila Santa Clara Univeristy Nick Jensen Santa Clara Univeristy Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/ceng_senior Part of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Avila, Raquel and Jensen, Nick, "Interlocking concrete masonry unit geometry design" (2015). Civil Engineering Senior Theses. 31. https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/ceng_senior/31 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Engineering Senior Theses at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Civil Engineering Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. INTERLOCKING CONCRETE MASONRY UNIT GEOMETRY DESIGN By Raquel Avila, Nick Jensen SENIOR DESIGN PROJECT REPORT Submitted to the Department of Civil Engineering of SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering Santa Clara, California Spring 2015 Abstract Earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal left many people devastated. Millions of people were initially displaced and forced to reside in displacement camps. Developing countries like these need a form of economical construction. Our design and manufacturing process for interlocking CMU (concrete masonry unit) blocks can help build low-cost homes quickly and efficiently. Wall construction costs are reduced because skilled masons are not needed to build the wall. Instead, unskilled homeowners and laborers can stack the interlocking blocks, which serve as forms for the subsequent placement of reinforcement and grout within some of the CMU block voids.