THESIS ABSTRACT
AUTHOR: ABU NASER ENAMUL HOQUE
TITLE OF THESISFEASIBILITY OF ADOBE AS A
CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL: A CASE STUDY
DATE OF DEGREE: JULY 1991
Adobe has been in use as a viable building material in the
Southwest of United states on a commercial basis. It has also
been successfully used in France and Egypt. Saudi Arabia has
a traditional background of buildings with mud all over the
country. This research investigates feasibility of adobe
buildings in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Two
different soils from two sites were explored. The effects of
bitumen emulsion and palm tree fibre as additives were also
investigated. For producing the bricks a machine was used
that makes compressed bricks. The compressive strengths of
the bricks without any additives and with the additives
showed lower values than dictated by the adobe codes of the
Southwest of United States. This is partly due to the expansive
characteristics of Qatif soil. However, in terms of absorption
and shrinkage, the good results were achieved. An economic
analysis was done to determine the cost per square meter of
adobe and a comparative 20 years analysis with adobe and
clay burnt bricks. With 5% emulsion, the cost per square
meter of adobe is the same as that of CMU (Concrete Masonry
Units) but cheaper than CMU arid Calcium Silicate bricks.
Both present worth and annual equivalent worth analysis
indicates the economic feasibility of adobe over clay burnt
bricks. Given the traditional and architectural background of
Saudi Arabia of adobe buildings, further research in this area
is required to bring it on par with the other alternative and
imported construction materials and methods.