Stabilization of adobes with bamboo fibers.

Case study: social interest housing construction project in the "El pantanal" neighborhood, Granada, Nicaragua

Abstract

The use of the mud as a building material has contributed to emancipation in communities and societies around the world. In Nicaragua there are many examples of this –especially in the northern part of the country- and it has also been in the case of the construction of the project “Barrio El Pantanal”, in Granada, where a community of female constructors, supported by various organizations and institutions have developed dozens of 60 square meter houses using improved ancestral techniques, like adobe, with mud quake-resistant properties.

However, there has been rare researching in this regard in the region, and none or little realization of tests for either adobe mixes or pertinent laboratory studies that prove the resistance of the blocks for proper usage, this fact contributes, once again, to the thought that adobe houses are not resistant.

These factors have driven the realization of this work under of the project: Reinforcement of Capabilities, into the Safe Construction Management Program, coordinated by the Integral Studies Habitability and Territory Program (PEI) at the National University of Engineering (UNI) and with the support of the Swiss Agency for the Development and the Cooperation, COSUDE Nicaragua. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, an innovative proposal was developed for the improvement of adobes used in “Barrio El Pantanal” project, centered on the use of natural bamboo fibers easily obtained from different manual processes to be applied in the adobe mixes, with which favorable results were obtained in its simple compressive strength properties.