Abstracts Earth and Environmental Sciences

Mechanical characterization of earth walls (adobe) reinforced with guadua bamboo mat

by Jhonatan Augusto Forero Pabón

The guadua mat is a natural material, easy to obtain and low cost, which can be used to reinforce adobe walls. This proposal would allow existing structures to be conserved, thus avoiding a greater environmental impact, due to reinforcement with synthetic or steel elements, which are not compatible with the earth, or even demolition as a result of postseism structural failure. Therefore, the objective of this work is to determine the feasibility of using guadua mats as reinforcement of low walls built in adobe to improve their structural capacity. For this purpose, the mechanical behavior of seventy-five adobe low walls with and without reinforcement of guadua mat was characterized under diagonal tension, compression, direct shear and bending requests. In each of the specimens, the modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, Poisson's ratio, maximum load, breaking load, lateral strength loss load, maximum stress, breaking stress, lateral strength loss stress, shear stress, strains, and displacements were experimentally determined. As a result, in the bending tests, it was observed that the applied load increased up to 11714.6%. In conclusion, it was found that the use of guadua mat as reinforcement in adobe walls is viable, since the load, effort and maximum displacement increase according to the amount of mat used.