Use of Modified Palm Kernel Shell Particles Composite Blend with Cement or Clay as Alternative Material for Block Production

This study presents the potential of modified Palm Kernel Shell (MPKS) particles in the production of blocks as an alternative building material using cement or clay as binders. Several studies on Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) as a blend with other natural fibres/fillers found that due to its hydrophilic nature, it has low physical and mechanical capabilities in comparison to MPKS, making it less compatible with any polymeric matrix. Experimental tests were conducted to determine the physicomechanical attributes of MPKS/Cement and MPKS/Clay blocks, including characterization of the cement and clay using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), as well as moisture content, water absorption, hardness, apparent porosity, bulk density, compressive strength, and flake. The morphology of the samples was determined using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Results show that MPKS/Cement block samples exhibit superior physicomechanical and morphological properties compared to MPKS/Clay. The MPKS/Cement block sample moisture content ranged between 4.76 – 9.94%. The 80/20 MPKS/Cement sample recorded the most water absorption at 49.5%, and a microhardness value of 82.3 Hv for the 20/80 sample. The MPKS/Clay samples showed higher values of apparent porosity but recorded the least bulk density in the 80/20 samples. The 20/80 MPKS/Cement and MPKS/Clay samples showed the best compressive strength at 63.72 and 50.3 N/mm2 respectively, while 80/20 for both cement and clay displayed very weak compressive strengths. The ratio 20/80 of MPKS/Cement is observed to be the optimum ratio where better properties of the composites were obtained. For the structure industry's long-term viability, MPKS' superior mechanical properties as an aggregate in block manufacturing make it an asset material as an alternative for some high-cost construction resources such as sand.

Drawing in the Domain: An investigation into the dialogue between analogue and digital tools through the design of a Paraparaumu sports clubrooms

<p>Tourism in New Zealand is often about nature. On the Kapiti Coast, tourism is preoccupied with the island, but this research looks at possibilities of cultural tourism in Paraparaumu township: away from risks of coastal erosion, sea level rise, and potential tsunamis. Sport is important to local culture and the objective is to explore the architectural potential for the Paraparaumu Domain. The existing Paraparaumu Rugby Club, Old Boys Cricket Club, Athletics Club, and Memorial Hall are all in separate buildings, used at separate times, during different parts of the year. What kind of architecture could help celebrate local sports culture? What kind of processes might be cultivated through such a project and how could they influence the design? Through the design of a shared sports clubrooms in the domain I searched for design processes and typological hybrids that could both connect to the local cultures, but also to discover more complex technical and spatial possibilities. Beginning with a typical cement block I explored an interior quality of the existing clubrooms; one that is unpretentious and modest. I experimented with analogue and digital processes to draw out a relationship between qualities, thinking how blunt instruments can come together with more sophisticated ones.</p>

Drawing in the Domain: An investigation into the dialogue between analogue and digital tools through the design of a Paraparaumu sports clubrooms

<p>Tourism in New Zealand is often about nature. On the Kapiti Coast, tourism is preoccupied with the island, but this research looks at possibilities of cultural tourism in Paraparaumu township: away from risks of coastal erosion, sea level rise, and potential tsunamis. Sport is important to local culture and the objective is to explore the architectural potential for the Paraparaumu Domain. The existing Paraparaumu Rugby Club, Old Boys Cricket Club, Athletics Club, and Memorial Hall are all in separate buildings, used at separate times, during different parts of the year. What kind of architecture could help celebrate local sports culture? What kind of processes might be cultivated through such a project and how could they influence the design? Through the design of a shared sports clubrooms in the domain I searched for design processes and typological hybrids that could both connect to the local cultures, but also to discover more complex technical and spatial possibilities. Beginning with a typical cement block I explored an interior quality of the existing clubrooms; one that is unpretentious and modest. I experimented with analogue and digital processes to draw out a relationship between qualities, thinking how blunt instruments can come together with more sophisticated ones.</p>

Hygrothermal performance of the building envelope with low environmental impact: case of a hemp concrete envelope

This document is a case study of hemp-based materials integrated into the building envelope for African and North American’s applications. The objective is to evaluate the energy performance of hemp concrete for construction in Montreal, Canada, where heating predominates and in Dori, Burkina Faso, where air conditioning predominates. The effect of thermal and hygrothermal comfort of hemp concrete, glass wool, cement block and compressed earth brick walls were simulated to quantify the benefits on overheating during the hottest months for the city of Dori and the risk of mould growth in the walls of the building in winter for the city of Montreal.

Comfort´s evolution analysis of low-cost housing in Ciudad Valles, S.L.P.

This research is the product of the monitoring carried out from year 2019 to 2020 about the environmental parameters that determine the person´s comfort in six low-cost housing in Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosí, México. These buildings were built in 1985, 1987, 1990, 1997, 2006 and 2008 respectively, between 1972 to 2006, foundation of INFONAVIT and CONAVI respectively, period of interest to analyze the thermal behavior of materials as block and concrete, which transcend the time due to their industrialization characteristics rather than their benefits in the person´s termal confort. The main objective is analyzes and demonstrate the thermal confort evolution provided by these classic materials in the hygrothermal environment, in order to suggest adjustments to improve it. the research questions are next; Do the classic materials provide a comfortable environment? How is the evolution of thermal comfort in the interior of the low-cost housing when building them with cement block and concrete? And if not; What are the recommendations to generate a better thermal environment? With the support of the PRODEP 2018 Program, some measuring equipment is obtained that are used to record the relative humidity, temperature, wind speed and temperature of the materials like the floor, the roof and the walls.

MAIN ENGINEERINGSPROPRETIES OF STABILISED EARTH BLOCK BRICKS FORMULATED WITH SOILS FROM NDJAMENA-CHAD

The most used bricks in house building in NDjamena, city of Chad which is situated in semi dry arid area with 600 millimeters of pluviometry per year and 50 °C as highest temperature, are raw clay bricks, terracotta bricks or bricks in ciment block. The raw clay bricks have strong sensibility in water and weak resistance to compression. The terracotta and cement block bricks have high thermal conductivity contrary to the adobe and their manufacturingcontribute to destroy the environment. The aim of this paper is to search Stabilised Earth Block (SEB) bricks whichare made with clay, sand and few percent of cement and respond to climatic, environmental and economic constraints. Therefore, some bricks are built in mixing differentspercents of sand and clay (M1 : 40% sand and 60% clay, M2 : 50% sand and 50% clay, M3 : 60% sand and 40% clay, M4 : 70% sand and 30% clay, M5 : 30% sand, 30% slime and 40% clay, and M6 : 40 % sand, 20% slime and 40% clay) for obtaining physical stabilizationand adding 8%, 10% or 15% of cementin each type of brick for the chemical stabilization. Theuse of moulding press machine grants already the mechanical stabilization to these bricks. Proctor test has allowedto retain M1, M3 and M4 for searching the best values of the rate absorption of water by capillarity , the resistance in compression and the thermal conductivity of these bricks. The results of tests show bricks M3 with 10% of cement have the good values 21,23 g.cm-².min-1/2 of rate absorption, 3,82 MPa of resistance in compression and 0,5W.m-1.°K-1 as thermal conductivity.

Oyster culture (Crassostrea lugubris) in Lang Co Lagoon, Vietnam.

Grow-out culture of oyster (Crassostrea lugubris) is developing spontaneously at Lang Co lagoon (Thua Thien Hue province). Various culture systems are used: culture on cement block stakes as a holdfast connected to a trellis, culture in a small cage hanging on a trellis, culture on wooden stakes (bamboo or cajeput stakes), culture on rubber tyres, and culture on stones. The culture depth differs depending on the culture style: about 4-6 m on a trellis and 1.5-2 m on wooden stakes and on stones. The chosen substrate is muddy bottom or muddy sand. The salinity of the culture area is 4-5‰ in the rainy season and 27-30‰ in the dry season. Oyster seed is collected from the wild, two times per year: in April and July. The culture duration is prolonged, at about 10-12 months. The commercial size of oyster is 9-11 cm long and about 200 g per piece. The price of commercial oyster is VND 5,000 kg-1 (about US$ 0.30 kg-1).

Miniature Resistance Measurement Device for Structural Health Monitoring of Reinforced Concrete Infrastructure

A vast amount of civil infrastructure is constructed using reinforced concrete, which can be susceptible to corrosion, posing significant risks. Corrosion of reinforced concrete has various causes, with chloride ingress known to be a major contributor. Monitoring this chloride ingress would allow for preventative maintenance to be less intrusive at a lower cost. Currently, chloride sensing methods are bulky and expensive, leaving the majority of concrete infrastructures unmonitored. This paper presents the design and fabrication of a miniature, low-cost device that can be embedded into concrete at various locations and depths. The device measures localized concrete resistance, correlating to the chloride ingress in the concrete using equations listed in this paper, and calculated results from two experiments are presented. The device benefits from a four-probe architecture, injecting a fixed frequency AC waveform across its outer electrodes within the cement block. Voltage across the internal electrodes is measured with a microcontroller and converted to a resistance value, communicated serially to an external computer. A final test showcases the ability of the device for three-dimensional mass deployment.