US-India Cooperative Research: Investigation of Lightweight Materials and Constructability Techniques for Cost-Effective Housing in India and USA

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Description: This award supports the US-India cooperative research project entitled Investigation of Lightweight Materials and Construction Techniques for Cost-effective Housing in India and the U.S. Professors Anil Sawhney, Arizona State University (ASU), Kenneth Walsh, San Diago State University (SDSU), and Krishnamurthy Ramamurthy, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) will use the "whole house approach" to investigate lightweight materials and construction processes to build quality cost-effective homes. They will examine the potential for autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) and other similar materials to become a major component in housing production in the U.S. and India. While wood has been a popular home building material in the U.S., brick and concrete are widely used in India. The investigators believe that the energy and thermal mass properties, durability, and cost effectiveness of AAC have advantages over both other systems. Scope: The collaboration between ASU, SDSU, and the IITM is expected to be mutually beneficial through the intellectual exchange of ideas, results, and approaches to housing research. The manufacture, construction, and implications for residential production system design, which have been extensively studied in the US, will be integrated with the Indian researchers' extensive experience in materials characterization of AAC. The collaboration is expected to expand understanding of AAC use in residential production in both settings. It will create technical linkages among the institutions, researchers and students, and will contribute to the development of improved graduate and undergraduate courses. The Division of Civil and Mechanical Systems is co funding this research; and India's Department of Science & Technology (DST) supports this project under the NSF/DST joint program.