A Study of Uncalcined Termite Clay Soil as Partial Replacement in Cement as a Sustainable Material for Roofing Tiles in Low Cost Housing Schemes in Kenya
Meshack Oduor Otieno1, Charles K. Kabubo2, Zachary Abiero Gariy3
1Meshack Oduor Otieno, Master of Science in Construction Engineering & Management Technology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, Kenya.
2Charles K. Kabubo, Director SMARTEC, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, Kenya.
3Zachary Abiero Gariy, Department of Civil Engineering, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, Kenya.
Manuscript received on January 07, 2015. | Revised Manuscript received on January 24, 2015. | Manuscript published on February 28, 2015. | PP: 56-59 | Volume-4 Issue-3, February 2015. | Retrieval Number: C3724024315/2013©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The need for adequate roofing in developing countries is a vital problem for so many people. The solution of this problem is often linked to the import of iron sheets. The increasing economic burden that many less developed countries have to carry makes it harder to meet vital needs, such as roofing, by means of import. The efforts to find appropriate solutions based on locally available raw materials have thus become more and more important. The cost of conventional materials is too high; a considerable amount of this cost is due to the price of energy for manufacturing and to transportation costs, some materials such as cement poses adverse environmental effect. There is need therefore to provide alternative materials that are locally available, materials that can reverse the adverse environmental effect caused by excessive use of Portland cement and finally, materials that have small energy demand. The overall objective of this research was to assess the suitability of uncalcined termite clay powder partial replacement in cement for use in roofing tile for housing. For this termite clay powder replacement levels of 0 %, 10 %, 20%, 30% and 40% by weight of Ordinary Portland Cement was carried out to determine setting times, compressive strength, flexural strength and absorption rate. The chemical analysis of uncalcined termite clay soil obtained from Bondo district, Usigu sub location, Nduru village in Siaya County was found to be chemically suitable as pozzolanic material (SiO2+Al2O3+Fe2O3=93.053>70) required as stipulated by the ASTM C 618 standard. The optimal replacement level for termite clay soil was determined to be 10% replacement in cement achieving compressive strength of 44.9N/mm2, flexural strength of 6.5N/mm2 and absorption rate of 6.5. %.
Keywords: Roofing tiles, Partial replacement, Compressive strength, flexural strength, Absorption rate.