ABSTRACT
The purpose of this work is to compare the shaping ability of
compressed earth blocks (BTC) of lateritic clays and bioburden clays by termite
activity for their use in civil construction. The work carried out took place
in the locality of Sa'a (Center-Cameroon).
The methodology used consisted of field and laboratory work.
The field methods used to carry out this study focused on the collection of
lateritic clays and biologically modified materials. Laboratory work focused on
mineralogical and geochemical analyzes and the determination of the
geotechnical properties of natural and physico-mechanical materials of
compressed earth blocks.
The results obtained show that the termite mounds and
lateritic clay materials consist of quartz, kaolinite, goethite, hematite (in
small quantities: 2.20 - 2.95% in termite mounds than those: 2.75 - 3.35 % of
lateritic clays) and incidentally of anatase and ilmenite. Ilmenite is only
present in termite mound materials (NKM-T). The chemical composition of these
materials shows that they are predominantly silica-alumino-ferrous silica.
Their spread and heterogeneous particle size reveals that they are useful sandy
clays for the manufacture of masonry tiles and bricks (NKM-T). Termite mounds
are more plastic than lateritic clays and exhibit acceptable molding
properties. This behavior, justified by low linear shrinkage values (RL
<3%), is due to the presence of quartz, kaolinite and the absence of
swelling minerals. The mechanical characteristics (resistance to bending and
compression) of lateritic clays in their natural state are very low compared to
those of termite mound materials for reasons of their high mineralogical
constitution in quartz or low in kaolinite, their granularity and their low
plasticity. The gradual additions of termite mound materials to lateritic
materials lead to a significant increase in flexural and compressive strengths,
and achieve optimum working qualities of compressed earth blocks. Therefore,
the addition of termite mound materials around 40% is in high demand in the
safe manufacture of raw BTC.
Keywords: termite mounds, lateritic clays,
geomechanic, earth blocks, Sa'a.
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LISTE DES ABREVIATIONS ET ACRONYMES
AFNOR : Association Française de la
Normalisation
BTC : Bloc de Terre Comprimée
G.P.S : Global Positioning System
GeoLabs : Laboratoire de Géosciences
d'Ontario
Ip : Indice de plasticité
Ld : limite de détection
LGIA : Laboratoire de Géologie de
l'Ingénieur et d'Altérologie
LL : limite de liquidité
LOI : Loss Of Ignition
MIPROMALO : Mission de promotion des
matériaux locaux
MO : Matière Organique
NIS : Nigeria Industrial Standard Rc :
Résistance à la compression Rf :
Résistance à la flexion
RL : Retrait linéaire
RLm : Retrait Linéaire moyen
SAF : Silice-Alumine-Fer
SRTM : Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
Tab : Tableau
UYI : Université de Yaoundé I
VBS : Valeur au bleu de sol
WA : Absorption d'eau
XRD: X-ray Diffraction
óf : Résistance à la
flexion
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