Thermomechanical Characterization of Laterite Matrix Reinforced with Typha Material for Thermal Insulation in Building

Every person, in every country and on every continent, will be affected in one way or another by climate change. A climate cataclysm is looming on the horizon due to greenhouse gas emissions. This explains a strong demand for air conditioning in the years to come, hence the need for good thermal insulation at a lower cost. However, a policy of prevention, adaptation, and resilience is necessary for the protection of the environment in the future. This work aims to respond to the United Nations SDGs 7, 11 and 13. This paper presents the results of thermomechanical characterizations of the Typha additive (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%) in laterite matrices. First, we carried out a thermal characterization using the asymmetric hot plane method, which led to thermal conductivity and effusivity in different proportions. Next, mechanical tests were carried out to determine the traction and compression of each material with a matest press. Those which made it possible to obtain results according to the percentage for the thermal tests: a conductivity varying between 0.7178 W/m·K to 0.0597 W/m·K and an effusivity varying between 942.5392 J/m2·K·s1/2 at 287.0855 J/m2·K·s1/2 and for mechanical tests: traction varying between 0.035 MPa to 0.034 MPa and compression varying between 0.1115 MPa to 0.0805 MPa for the different samples. The exploitation of the results allowed us to study the conductivity, effusivity, traction, and compression as a function of their densities.

Thermophysical Characterization of Typha’s Concrete for Its Integration into Construction

Energy consumption in the building sector is constantly increasing and represents more than 44% in the residential and tertiary sectors in many countries [1]. Thus, the building represents a real possibility of energy saving and is the subject of several studies particularly in actual context of experimentation with materials based on plant fibers (hemp, flax, millet wastage, etc.). These biobased materials such as typha have shown real interest in the buildings construction due to their light and porous nature. It’s in this context that we were interested in typha australis mixed with classic aggregates (cement, sand, gravel 3/8) to make typha’s concrete. On this concrete, we carried out experimental measurements in order to better understand its contributions in the building. The interesting results obtained show that typha australis, which is an invasive and harmful grass, can be valued and integrated among local building materials in the form of typha’s concrete in order to improve the energy efficiency of buildings.