Lightweight Building Construction with Locally Available Materials

Aerated slurry-infiltrated chicken mesh was evaluated as a lightweight and structurally resilient material for building construction. Aerated slurry with relatively low structural qualities was shown to perform favorably when used as a matrix with chicken mesh reinforcement in structural applications. The high specific surface area of chicken mesh and the close spacing of its wires (when used at 2-4% volume fraction) effectively enhance the mechanical performance and dimensional stability of the aerated slurry. The chicken mesh structural behavior also benefits significantly from embedment in the aerated slurry which mitigates the reorientation tendency of the chicken mesh wires under tension. This effect enables mobilization of the tensile load-carrying capacity of the wires in chicken mesh at structurally viable deformations.;A comprehensive experimental program was undertaken at materials and structures levels in order to develop aerated slurry-infiltrated chicken mesh materials and structural systems with a desired balance of strength, ductility and hysteretic energy dissipation capacity. The bulk density of the aerated slurry and the chicken mesh volume fraction were some key variables in design of the new (composite) building material. With proper selection of these variables, the synergistic actions of the aerated slurry and the chicken mesh in the context of the composite material were confirmed. Empirical models were developed for the mechanical performance of this composite material. The aerated slurry-infiltrated chicken mesh composite material is amenable to joining via screw and (to some extent) nail application. An experimental study was conducted in order to evaluate the effects of screw (or nail) type and geometric attributes as well as the aerated slurry-infiltrated chicken mesh bulk density and reinforcement condition on the pullout and (unilateral and cyclic) lateral behavior of screws and nails applied to aerated slurry-infiltrated chicken mesh sheets.;The combination of experimental data produced on structural elements, joints and joined components were used to design a building structure for efficient and safe performance under gravity and seismic loads. The full-scale building system is currently under construction for verifying its structural performance through shaking table tests.