DEVELOPMENT OF A SANDCRETE BLOCK RHOMBUS
Adejumo, B.A
Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering
Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria
Email: bolanleadejumo@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The availability and cost of construction materials of traditional storage structures makes it adoption advantageous to the subsistence farmers despite their series of defects. The mud rhombus which is commonly used for grain storage in the northern parts of Nigeria has various defects occuring mainly in the roof, wall and foundation of the structure. These defects include cracks, leakages, and structural failure of parts among others. The main objective of this work is to develop a sandcrete block rhombus to solve the problems of cracks, insect pest infestation, structural failure of the foundation and roof as well as the unloading of stored grains. A 1.46 tones capacity experimental sandcrete block rhombus with a total volume of 2.46 m3 was designed to store shelled maize. The main structure was constructed using sandcrete blocks, cement, gravel and roofed using wood and roof asbestos. A trapezoidal metal sheet inclined at 30o across the structure was incorporated to enhance the easy discharge of the loaded grains. The loading and unloading outlets are well secured to avoid pilfering. The cost of construction of the sandcrete block rhombus was estimated to be ₦60,000. The use of more structurally durable materials as well as the ease of loading and unloading coupled with the locking devices gives the sandcrete block rhombus more advantage over the traditional rhombus. However further work need to be carried out to evaluate the performance of the sandcrete block rhombus using grain models of safe moisture content.
Keywords Development, construction, Mud rhombus, sandcrete silo