Development and assessment of performance, fire safety, and sustainability of wood-clay materials for construction of housing in Africa

这项研究的预期结果是通过设计一种新型建筑材料来扩大加拿大木材的市场，这种材料是由玉米芯制成的，这是一种混合了水和有机纤维的底土建筑材料，以及用于发展中国家的木材。该项目将解决非洲的住房短缺问题，并使那些通常无法获得工程研究的人受益。六个具体目标是：1)制定用于建筑的粘土与植物纤维的混合物，以测量热湿特性；2)测量木材处理中使用的八酸二钠（DOT）向粘土中的迁移；3)评估杉木粘土材料在梁上和木粘土小墙原型上的防火性能；4)对木粘土建筑的围护结构进行热液建模。5)进行可持续性分析，以突出在可持续发展背景下选择这种有益和生态的建筑的条件；6)将结果传播给非洲需要社会住房的人。在ETS，两名博士和一名硕士将完成目标1、2、4、5和6。目标3将由约克大学的一名硕士学生负责，这名学生也将为目标6做出贡献。这条加拿大木材的新贸易路线有很大的潜力增加木材销售和加拿大木材在非洲的市场份额。

The intended outcome of the research is to expand the market of Canadian wood, by designing a novel building material made of cob, a subsoil building material mixed with water and organic fibre, and wood for use indeveloping countries. The project will address the housing deficit in Africa and benefit those that would notnormally have access to engineering research. The six specific objectives are 1) to formulate a mixture of claywith plant fibres for construction in order to measure thermal and hygrometric properties, 2) to measure themigration of disodium octaborate (DOT) used in the wood treatment into the clay, 3) to evaluate thefire performance of fir-clay materials on a beam and on a prototype of a wood-clay small wall, 4) to performhydrothermal modelling on the envelope of wood-clay buildings, 5) to conduct sustainability analyses to highlightthe conditions that make this choice of construction beneficial and ecological in the context of sustainabledevelopment, and 6) to disseminate the results to those needing social housing in Africa. At ETS, two PhDsand one Master student will complete objectives 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. Objective 3 will be the responsibility of oneMaster student at York University who will also contribute to objective 6. This new tradeline for Canadianwood has great potential to increase wood sales and the market share of Canadian wood in Africa.