Rush Fibers Reinforced Adobe for Sustainable Building

Abstract

Little consume energy materials have recently received increased attention as an ecological and sustainable alternative. We propose to study a building approach with raw earth (adobe) combined with plant fibers. The latter used as reinforcement in composite materials have specific competitive mechanical properties compared to those of synthetic fibers (glass, carbon, ...) and are an environmentally friendly alternative to these fibers because of their low cost, low density, biodegradability and availability. We describe adobe stabilization and reinforcement process with treated rush fibers. We introduce our approach to formulate an earth mortar allowing the making of blocks of adobe, intended for the construction of works such as walls, arches and domes.