Author(s)

Fredrick Onyancha Arasa^1,2, Richard Onchiri³, Zachary C. Abiero-Gariy⁴

¹Department of Civil Engineering, Pan African University for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation (PAUSTI), Nairobi, Kenya.
²Department of Civil and Structural Engineering Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega, Kenya.
³Department of Building and Civil Engineering, Technical University of Mombasa, Mombasa, Kenya.
⁴Department of Civil Construction and Environmental Engineering, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Nairobi, Kenya.

The increase in construction costs has resulted in the shortage of decent housing in Kenya. As a result, the majority of the population lives in substandard housing. One way of reducing the cost of housing is by replacing the mortared masonry units with dry-stack hollow masonry units. In this study, Dry-stack hollow Sandcrete Blocks (DHSBs) were developed by utilizing blended sand (30% marine and 70% lateritic sand) and sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) (15%) as replacement of river sand and partial replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement, respectively. Two types of dry-stack hollow sandcrete blocks (DHSBs) were mechanically developed and identified as T-DHSBs and R-DHSBs. The compressive strength and durability performance of the DHSBs were investigated through laboratory experiments. The durability of the DHSBs was assessed through water absorption and abrasion tests. The 28-day compressive strengths of T-DHSBs and R-DHSBs were found to be 3.58 Mpa and 4.04 Mpa respectively and the water absorption values for T-DHSBs and R-DHSBs were 8.98% and 9.39% respectively. The losses of weight due to abrasion for T-DHSB and R-DHSBs were 0.056% and 0.051% respectively. The compressive strength and durability of the DHSBs were found to meet the specifications provided in NIS 87:2000 and BS 5628-1:2005 respectively.

Blended Sand, Dry-Stack Hollow, Sandcrete Blocks, Compressive Strengths, Abrasion, Water Absorption

Arasa, F.O., Onchiri, R. and Abiero-Gariy, Z.C. (2021) Experimental Investigation on the Compressive Strength and Durability Performance of Modified Dry-Stack Hollow Sandcrete Blocks. Open Access Library Journal, 8, 1-13. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1108216.