ABSTRACT
The spate of
building collapse in Nigeria has put in the front burner the need to investigate
the quality of sandcrete blocks used in building construction. Collapse and
heavy cracks are the frequent features of many building in Uyo capital city of
Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. There are many causes for collapse of building; one
of which is weak and poor quality walling units, for example hollow sandcrete
blocks. Therefore, this research work assessed the compressive strength and
water absorption qualities of hollow sandcrete blocks produced in Uyo capital
city of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Three types of investigation, namely;
literature review, field survey and laboratory experimentation procedures were
used for the method. A total number of one hundred and eight (108) hollow
sandcrete blocks were randomly collected. Twelve (12) blocks sampled from each
of the nine (9) local government area of Uyo Capital City. Blocks sampled collected were tested at the
age of 28days for their compressive strength and water absorption being two
major characteristic requirement specified by Nigerian industrial standard for
sandcrete blocks for testing and verifying the quality of sandcrete blocks,
apart from the appearance and dimension. Structure interview was conducted at
each factory with some of the factory staff to elicit further information on
their production. All the tests were carried out in the soil laboratory,
department of civil engineering, ministry of works Uyo, Akwa Ibom State,
Nigeria. Test results shows that, there was no appreciable difference in water
absorption values of the produced at the nine industrial sites. However, the
water absorption values obtained are not higher than 12% specification. The
average means of compressive strength of nine inches blocks (machine
production) is 2.01N/mm2 and the manual production is 1.78N/mm2.
However, for six inches blocks, the average means of compressive strength are
1.80N/mm2 and 1.69N/mm2 for the machine and manual
productions respectively. This is far below the 2.5 N/mm2 recommended
by Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) for non-load bearing walls and 3.45n/mm2
for load bearing walls. The result shows that, the blocks produced in Uyo, both
machine and manual productions do not meet the minimum requirements by NIS,
therefore it cannot be used for the construction of building. The study
revealed that, poor quality control, poor selection of constituent materials,
poor control of mix ratio and inadequate curing period by the producers
contributed to the negative results obtained. It is recommended that workshop
should be organized periodically to enlighten the block producers in the
locality.
ANTHONY, A (2022). Assessment Of Strength Characteristics Of Sandcrete Hollow Blocks Produced In Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Capital. Mouau.afribary.org: Retrieved Dec 25, 2024, from https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/assessment-of-strength-characteristics-of-sandcrete-hollow-blocks-produced-in-uyo-akwa-ibom-state-capital-7-2
ANTHONY, ANTHONY. "Assessment Of Strength Characteristics Of Sandcrete Hollow Blocks Produced In Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Capital" Mouau.afribary.org. Mouau.afribary.org, 24 Oct. 2022, https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/assessment-of-strength-characteristics-of-sandcrete-hollow-blocks-produced-in-uyo-akwa-ibom-state-capital-7-2. Accessed 25 Dec. 2024.
ANTHONY, ANTHONY. "Assessment Of Strength Characteristics Of Sandcrete Hollow Blocks Produced In Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Capital". Mouau.afribary.org, Mouau.afribary.org, 24 Oct. 2022. Web. 25 Dec. 2024. < https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/assessment-of-strength-characteristics-of-sandcrete-hollow-blocks-produced-in-uyo-akwa-ibom-state-capital-7-2 >.
ANTHONY, ANTHONY. "Assessment Of Strength Characteristics Of Sandcrete Hollow Blocks Produced In Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Capital" Mouau.afribary.org (2022). Accessed 25 Dec. 2024. https://repository.mouau.edu.ng/work/view/assessment-of-strength-characteristics-of-sandcrete-hollow-blocks-produced-in-uyo-akwa-ibom-state-capital-7-2