ISSN: 2320-5407 Int. J. Adv. Res.

12(09), 441-448

Journal Homepage: - www.journalijar.com

Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/19473

DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/19473

RESEARCH ARTICLE
EFFECT OF IROKO AND SAPELLI SAWDUST MIXTURE ON THERMAL PROPERTIES OF
COMPRESSED EARTH BRICKS (CEB)

Hippolyte Nwandji Yankam1, Elvis Mbou Tiaya2 and Atahualpa Sosa-Lopez3

1. Department of Projects, Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana, Mexico.
2. Mechanics and Adapted Materials Laboratory (LAMMA), ENSET, University of Douala, Cameroon.
3. Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Mexico.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………....
Manuscript Info Abstract
……………………. ………………………………………………………………
Manuscript History This study analyzes the effect of the mixture of Iroko and Sapelli
Received: 15 July 2024 sawdust on the thermal properties of compressed earth bricks(CEB).
Final Accepted: 17 August 2024 Various compositions were carried out for proportions of 15% sawdust
Published: September 2024 consisting of the mixture of two wood species (Sapelli; Iroko) in
various proportions. The earth+sawdust mixture was stabilized with 8%
Key words:-
Earth Brick, Sawdust, Lime, Cement, cement or slaked lime. The hot plate method were used to determine
Thermal Properties thermal properties of bricks.The presence of sawdust improves the
thermal properties of earth bricks. On the other hand, these thermal
properties do not systematically evolve in the same direction as the
proportion of the species with the greatest density (Sapelli) in the
sawdust mixture.

Copyright, IJAR, 2024,. All rights reserved.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………....
Introduction:-
Cameroon, in its desire to reduce its housing deficit, has embarked on a social housing construction program. The
sale of the first housing units built has only received the support of a section of the population due to its high cost
price for the middle class. Furthermore, there are landlocked villages in Cameroon that do not have any quarries that
can supply them with aggregates. The transport of aggregates from quarries to these landlocked villages makes
construction high-cost (Nwandji and Atahualpa, 2022). In order to offer the population financially accessible
constructions for people with an average income while promoting local materials, it is more than necessary to think
about the development of high-performance, sustainable, economical and above all locally available materials. Earth
in its natural state can be used as a building material with virtually no energy expenditure (Meukam, 2004). Among
the plant fibers used in the production of Compressed earth brick(CEB), including hemp shiv (Laborel et al., 2015),
date palm fibers (Taallah et al., 2014), coconut fibers (Djohore et al., 2018), is sawdust (Ouattara, 2013). Generally
available in sawmills as a mixture of residues of several wood species with varied properties, the use of this,
although promoting the recovery of waste from the wood industry, does not clearly allow us to know the effect of
the different wood species present in the mixture on the properties of earth bricks. It is therefore interesting to know
whether the thermal properties of earth bricks made from a sawdust mixture systematically evolve in the same
direction as the proportion of the wood species with the greatest density (sapelli) in the mixture.

Corresponding Author:- Hippolyte Nwandji Yankam

Address:- Phd Student, Department of Projects,Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana,
Mexico.
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Materials:-
The earth
The site chosen for soil sampling is located in the city of Douala, coastal region of Cameroon, at the place called
Pk18.

The wood
Iroko which is a class 2 wood(CIRAD, 2023) and Sapelli which belongs to class 3(CIRAD, 2024) are the two wood
species used in our study. The wood was purchased in the locality of Logbaba and then transformed into sawdust by
sawing.

Cement
The cement used is of type CEM II and class 42.5R. It was purchased from local suppliers in the city of Douala.

Lime
The lime used is of type CL90S. It was also purchased from local suppliers in the city of Douala.

Methods:-
Our approach consisted of:
1. Mix the previously dried and sieved laterite through a 3.15 mm mesh sieve, with 15% of the sawdust mixture
(Sapelli+Iroko) in the proportions of the couple (%Sapelli; %Iroko) of (100%; 0%), (75%; 25%), (50%; 50%),
(25%; 75%) and (0%; 100%);
2. Mix the previously dried and sieved laterite through a 3.15 mm mesh sieve, with 15% of the sawdust mixture
(Sapelli + Iroko) in the proportions of the couple (%Sapelli; %Iroko) of (100%; 0%), (75%; 25%), (50%; 50%),
(25%; 75%) and (0%; 100%) + 8% of binder (cement or lime);
3. Determine the optimum compaction water content for each composition;
4. Produce compressed earth bricks from these mortars. Then, using the asymmetric hot plane method test, we
determined the thermal properties of the earth bricks obtained;
5. Highlight the results obtained for the different compositions of the earth bricks on the same graph or table in
order to identify the impact of the presence of the different wood species in the sawdust mixture on the thermal
properties of the earth bricks obtained.

The aim of the test was to evaluate the thermal properties of CEB, including thermal effusivity, volumetric heat and
thermal conductivity. The bricks were produced under a compaction energy of 3.6 Mpa following the approach of
Houben et al. (1996).

The test consisted, as illustrated in Figure 1, in heating one face of the CEB sample by means of a thermal resistance
connected to a generator and in collecting, using a thermocouple, the evolution of the temperature of the heating
resistance in contact with the CEB sample over time. During the time when the disturbance has not reached the other
faces, it can be considered that the heat transfer at the center of the sample is unidirectional (Meukam, 2004).

Figure 1:- Thermal characterization of CEBby the asymmetric hot plane method.

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Thermal Effusivity
The test temperatures Texp(t) were recorded using the acquisition module. From Ganou and al. (2021),

The variation of value between the experimental and simulated temperature obtained after modeling the test
instrument was used to estimate the effusivity (Eff) and the volumetric heat ( ρ C P ). The pre-estimated value of
thermal effusivity was obtained from the 1D numerical calculation of the slope δ (t) of the linear part of the
experimental curve Texp(t) = 𝑓 ( t).

Effusivity is obtained using equation 1 from Ganou's research (2021).

𝟐𝚽
E ff(CEB) = 𝛅 𝛑- E ff(Po) ( 1)

Where, E ff(CEB) represents the effusivity of CEB, Eff(Po) is the effusivity of polystyrene, δ is the slope of the linear
part of the experimental curve 𝑇 ( 𝑡 ) = 𝑓 ( t) and Φ is the heat flux produced by the heating element (Ganou,
2021).

Volumetric heat
The volumetric heat is estimated from equation 2from Ganou's research (2021).

( 2)

Where,from Ganou's research (2021): e denotes the thickness (in m), C the specific heat (in J/kg/°K), ρ the apparent
density (kg/m 3 ); po is the symbol for polystyrene, h is the symbol for the hot plane, s is the symbol for the CEB
sample and β is the slope of the linear part of the experimental curve T(t)=f(t).

Thermal conductivity
The thermal conductivity ( λ ) was derived from the effusivity and volumetric heat by equation 3.

( 3)

Result and Discussion:-

Table 1 presents the different compositions made in this study. The earthenware pellets made from these
compositions had dimensions of 100×100×20 mm.
Table 1Influence of sawdust on the thermal properties of non-binder-stabilized CEB.
Label Compositions Symbols
ECH1 earth+20.1% water 100% earth
ECH 2 earth+15% Iroko+17% water C0(S0I100)15
ECH 3 land + 15% Sapelli + 22.8% water C0(S100I0)15
ECH 10 earth +15% sawdust (75% Sapelli + 25% iroko) +16.5% water C0(S75I25)15
ECH 13 land +15% sawdust (50% Sapelli+50%iroko)+20.4% water C0(S50I50)15
ECH 16 earth +15% sawdust (25% Sapelli+75%iroko)+19.6% water C0(S25I75)15
ECH 5 earth+8%lime+18%water 100% earth + 8% L
ECH 6 earth+15%Iroko+8%lime+22.4% water L8(S0I100)15
ECH 8 earth+15% Sapelli +8%lime+18.4% water L8(S100I0)15
ECH 11 earth +15%sawdust (75%Sapelli+25%iroko)+8%lime+20.5 L8(S75I25)15
water
ECH 14 earth +15% sawdust (50% Sapelli + 50% iroko) + 8% lime + L8(S50I50)15
17.8% water
ECH 17 earth +15%sawdust (25%Sapelli+75%iroko)+8%lime+18% L8(S25I75)15
water

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ECH 4 earth +8% cement + 19.1% 100% earth + 8% C

ECH 7 earth+15% Iroko+8% cement+15% water C8(S0I100)15
ECH 9 earth+15% Sapelli +8%cement+20.1% water C8(S100I0)15
ECH 12 earth +15% sawdust (75% Sapelli + 25% iroko) + 8% cement + C8(S75I25)15
23% water
ECH 15 earth +15%sawdust (50%Sapelli+50%iroko)+8%cement +22% C8(S50I50)15
water

Case of compressed earth bricks not stabilized with binder.

Table 2 shows the values of thermal properties measured on non-binding stabilised earth bricks.
Table 2Influence of sawdust on the thermal properties of non-binder-stabilized CEB.
Samples Thermal Thermal Volumetric Heat (J/m
conductivity (W/m effusivity (J/m 2 3 K)
K) KS 1/2 )
Earth 0.796 1,001,770 1,260,180,892
Earth + 15% Iroko 0.335 775,700 1,872,811,463
Earth + 15% Sapelli 0.322 847,300 2,261,932,237
earth +15% sawdust (75% 0.269 775,530 2,260,012,472
Sapelli+25%iroko)
earth +15% sawdust (50% 0.281 820,040 2,397,795,758
Sapelli+50%iroko)
earth +15% sawdust (25% 0.289 743,690 2,053,954,878
Sapelli+75%iroko)

It is observed that, compared to samples made only of earth, the presence of 15% of sawdust:
 Reduces thermal conductivity from 57.98% to 66.22%;
 Reduces thermal effusivity from 15.42% to 25.76%;
 Increases volumetric heat from 48.61% to 90.27%;
Similar results were obtained by Abessolo (2022).

Case of compressed earth bricks stabilized with lime.

The results of thermal characterization of lime-stabilized CEB are presented in Table 3.
Table 3:- Influence of sawdust on the thermal properties of lime-stabilized CEB.
for Thermal Thermal effusivity Volumetric Heat (J/m
conductivity (J/m 2 KS 1/2 ) 3
K)
(W/m K)
earth+8%lime 0.920 1,008,640 1,106,557,642
earth+15%Iroko+8%lime 0.259 751,950 2,146,607,689

earth + 15% Sapelli + 8% lime 0.284 753,560 2,039,073,997

earth + 15% sawdust (75% Sapelli + 25% 0.275 777,300 2,251,870.179

iroko) + 8% lime

earth +15% sawdust (50% Sapelli + 50% 0.315 678,240 1,461,634,777

iroko) + 8% lime

earth + 15% sawdust (25% Sapelli + 75% 0.387 709,780 1,314,668,668

iroko) + 8% lime

It is observed that, compared to samples made of earth + lime, the presence of 15% of sawdust:
 Reduces thermal conductivity from 57.96% to 71.82%;

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 Reduces thermal effusivity from 22.94% to 32.76%;

 Increases volumetric heat from 18.81% to 103.50%;
Similar results were obtained by Abessolo (2022).

Case of compressed earth bricks stabilized with cement.

Table 4 shows the values of thermal properties measured on non-binding stabilised earth bricks.
Table 4:- Influence of sawdust on the thermal properties of cement-stabilized CEB.
Samples Thermal Thermal effusivity Volumetric Heat (J/m 3
2 1/2
conductivity (W/m (J/m KS ) K)
K)
earth +8% cement 0.859 1,013,840 1,202,166,873
earth+15% Iroko+8% cement 0.328 783,920 1,298,037,922
earth+15%Sapelli +8%cement 0.310 730,300 1,799,191,834
earth +15%sawdust 0.347 752,090 1,717,155,716
(75%Sapelli+25%iroko)+8%cement
earth +15% sawdust (50% Sapelli + 0.339 948,830 2,698,719,729
50% iroko) + 8% cement
earth +15%sawdust 0.486 822,600 1,627,203,941
(25%Sapelli+75%iroko)+8%cement

It is observed that, compared to samples made of earth + cement, the presence of 15% of sawdust:
 Reduces thermal conductivity from 43.36% to 63.88%;
 Reduces thermal effusivity from 22.80% to 82.16%;
 Increases volumetric heat from 4.47% to 63.72%;
Similar results were obtained byAbessolo (2022).

Effect of the proportion of Iroko in sawdust on the thermal effusivity of compressed earth bricks.
Figure 2 illustrates the effect of the proportion of Iroko in the sawdust mixture on the thermal effusivity of CEB.
Among the CEB samples composed of Iroko and Sapelli mixture, the maximum thermal effusivity is observed for
the lime- or cement-stabilized CEB whose proportion of Iroko in the sawdust is 25% and 50%, respectively. For the
non-binder-stabilized CEB, the maximum thermal effusivity is observed in the sample whose proportion of Iroko in
the sawdust is 50%.

The analysis of the shape of the curves shows that the thermal effusivity of the different samples does not
systematically evolve in the same direction as the proportion of the wood species with the greatest density (Sapelli)
in the mixture. This could be explained by the difference in humidity of the samples since humidity has an influence
on the thermal properties of the constituents of the CEB.

Effect of the proportion of Iroko in sawdust on the volumetric heat of compressed earth bricks.
Figure 3 illustrates the effect of the proportion of Iroko in the sawdust mixture on the volumetric heat of CEB.
Among the CEB samples composed of Iroko and Sapelli mixture, the maximum volumetric heat is observed for the
lime- or cement-stabilized CEB whose proportion of Iroko in the sawdust is 25% and 50%, respectively. For the
non-binder-stabilized CEB, the maximum volumetric heat is observed for the sample whose proportion of Iroko in
the sawdust is 50%.

The analysis of the shape of the curves shows that the volumetric heat of the different samples does not
systematically evolve in the same direction as the proportion of the wood species with the greatest density (Sapelli)
in the mixture. This could be explained by the difference in humidity of the samples since humidity has an influence
on the thermal properties of the constituents of the CEB.

Effect of the proportion of Iroko in sawdust on the thermal conductivity of compressed earth bricks.
Figure 4 illustrates the effect of the proportion of Iroko in the sawdust mixture on the thermal conductivity of CEB.
Among the CEB samples composed of Iroko and Sapelli mixture, the maximum thermal conductivity is observed for
CEB with 75% Iroko proportion in sawdust.

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The analysis of the thermal conductivity of the different samples reveals that it does not systematically evolve in the
same direction as the proportion of the wood species with the greatest density (Sapelli) in the mixture. This could be
explained by the difference in humidity of the samples given that humidity has an influence on the thermal
properties of the constituents of CEB.
1 000.000

950.000
Thermal effusivity (J/m 2 KS 1/2 )

900.000

850.000

800.000 BTC non stabilisées au liant

CEB
BTC stabilisées à la chaux
750.000 Lime Stabilized CEB
BTC stabilisés au ciment
Cement Stabilized CEB
700.000

650.000

600.000
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Proportion of Iroko in the sawdust mixture (Iroko+Sapelli)

Figure 1curveof the thermal effusivity of CEB as a function of the proportion of Iroko in the sawdust mixture.

2800 600.000

2600 600.000

2400 600.000
Volumetric Heat (J/m 3 K)

2200 600.000

2000 600.000
CEB
1800 600.000 BTC
Lime stabilisées
Stabilized CEBà la chaux
BTC stabilisées au ciment
1600 600.000 Cement Stabilized CEB

1400 600.000

1200 600.000

1000 600.000

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Proportion of Iroko in the sawdust mixture (Iroko+Sapelli)

Figure 2Curveof the evolution of the volumetric heat of CEB as a function of the proportion of Iroko in the sawdust
mixture.

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0.550

0.500

0.450
conductivity (W/mK)

0.400
CEB
BTC non stabilisées au liant
0.350 LimeBTC
Stabilized CEB
stbilisées à la chaux
BTCStabilized
Cement stabiliséesCEB
au ciment
0.300

0.250

0.200
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Proportion of Iroko in the sawdust mixture (Iroko+Sapelli)

Figure 3Curveof the evolution of the thermal conductivity of CEB as a function of the proportion of Iroko in the
sawdust mixture.

Conclusion:-
This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of iroko and sapele mixture on the thermal properties of compressed
earth bricks. The influence of wood species was observed on thermal effusivity, volumetric heat and thermal
conductivity.

We observed that, compared to samples made only of soil, the addition of 15% of sawdust:
1. Reduces thermal conductivity from 57.98% to 66.22%;
2. Reduces thermal effusivity from 15.42% to 25.76%;
3. Increases volumetric heat from 48.61% to 90.27%;

Compared to samples made of earth +8% lime, the addition of 15% sawdust:
1. Reduces thermal conductivity from 57.96% to 71.82%;
2. Reduces thermal effusivity from 22.94% to 32.76%;
3. Increases volumetric heat from 18.81% to 103.50%;

Finally, compared to samples made of earth + 8% cement, the presence of 15% sawdust:
1. Reduces thermal conductivity from 43.36% to 63.88%;
2. Reduces thermal effusivity from 22.80% to 82.16%;
3. Increases volumetric heat from 4.47% to 63.72%;

Overall, these thermal properties do not systematically evolve in the same direction as the proportion of the species
with the greatest density (Sapelli) in the sawdust mixture.

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