Water-Resistant Characteristics of Ch’ampa Type Earth Block Masonry

Quille Y.V. · Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies (2023) · DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-31007-2_37

Resumen

At present, in the Peruvian Andes there is a need for houses that can withstand inclement weather, especially rainfall, so, because of this need, it has been identified a traditional construction system with a very unique architecture called Putuco, which uses a single type of material extracted from natural terrain called Ch’ampa. Therefore, the objective of this research is to study and analyze the water resistance of this traditional building block, obtaining a permeability coefficient between 7.77 × 10- 7 and 3.80 × 10- 6 cm/s, which indicates that the block is practically impermeable and comparable to modern prefabricated materials, in the SAET erosion tests the level is low or null due to the roots that it has as internal reinforcement, which provides both stability and resistance to permanent humidity, providing an adequate resistant characteristic and compensated with the low cost and recyclability of this construction material. These results differentiate it from other traditional earth construction materials and it is also environmentally friendly.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional del Altiplano