| Summary: | Interlocking concrete block is a new concrete masonry unit that is used in the construction industry. This masonry unit can improve the quality of the construction process; reduce the cost of labor, no need high skill workmanship and speeding the construction time. Normally, the interlocking concrete block masonry unit in the market place was designed in one way interlocking concept only either x or y-axis, shorter in length and low compressive strength value. However, the biaxial interlocking concrete block is a new concept being introduced in this research. Biaxial interlocking concrete block is a block with the interlocking system at both directions. Besides that, this masonry unit is offered the specialty compared to the normal interlocking concrete available in the market place due to its length and the geometry of the groove and tongue. This concrete masonry unit can be used as a non-load bearing wall or load-bearing wall depends on the application of the masonry. But, there is a lack of technical data was produced before. This paper presents a new finding on the compressive strength of biaxial interlocking concrete block masonry unit. Two series of biaxial interlocking concrete block unit namely BICB1 and BICB2 have tested the compressive strength. BICB1 is the masonry unit of a hollow biaxial interlocking concrete block meanwhile; BICB2 is the masonry unit of groove infill interlocking concrete block. The masonry unit sample tested under static compressive load. The results examine that BICB2 is higher in compressive strength compared to the BICB1. This result shows that BICB2 is better than BICB1, especially in load-bearing wall application. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.
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