Two UoB students create innovative wall concept

Manama : Two students from the College of Engineering at the University of Bahrain (UoB) have developed ready-made walls, which are lighter, more resistant to fire and suitable for the environment. These walls reduce the construction cost between 25pc to 75pc, compared to the type of bricks being used in the construction.

Civil Engineering students Hisham Al Halal and Emad Shamim exhibited their project during the senior project competition for College of Engineering, which was supervised by Department of Civil Engineering faculty member Dr Khalid Al Shafei.

Al Halal said, “These types of walls are used in East Asian countries, but were not resistant to heat. Therefore, we conducted scientific experiments to develop and enhance these walls to resist hot environment. The walls have a width of 0.6 metre and a height of 2.4 metre, which has been constructed from materials of cork, cement, concrete panels, sand and glue.”

They conducted several experiments to improve the properties of these panels and increase their resistance to high temperatures, according to British standards of construction.

The final mix of materials created a sample that can be used within concrete panels as an alternative to bricks used in buildings, which will reduce costs to a great extent as well as ease the weight of the building without the need for building big concrete posts.

“One of the advantages of these walls is that it is also easy to install and resistant to moisture besides insulating heat and sound. This would also reduce the duration of construction and the number of workers required for construction work, which consequently reduces the total cost,” added Halal.

When asked about challenges faced by the team, they informed that they did not receive support except from two companies namely Al Manaratain and International Laboratory Services, adding that their potential was limited because of the lack of resources and time constraints.