Feasibility study on a mud block with straw

Abstract

When, trying to establish “Sustainability” within local built environment, it is important to understand prevailing methods that are using. As a result, concentrating on “methods of wall construction”, it was found that, “mud”, was used over many centuries in traditional architecture. Therefore, concentrating on “mud wall construction”, the goal was set to be developed, a “mud block”, which has more structural durability, less weight, low cost, together with high performance with respect to indoor air quality. However, as an initial attempt of the ultimate invent of “mud block”, this research was carried out to analyse, the correct proportions to invent such block. During the research mainly two types of mud blocks were casted; partially compacted mud block and poured mud block. During the casting process soil, cement, straw were mixed with water in different proportions to understand the best particle mix for the proposed block and compared the compressive strengths of each sample. From the analysis it was found that, there is a high possibility of inventing a effective mud block which has required strength for a load bearing dwellings, while minimizing the structural cast with less weight and low cost with simple manufacturing process.