الفهرس 
Heritage of Date Palm in EgyptOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 270 |  |  |
| | | from | 270 | | |
Abstract
Date palm midribs have been used in numerous forms of traditional
handicrafts and vernacular construction in Egypt since the Ancient Egyptian era.
Consequently, a strong technical heritage can still be found in the rural societies in
Egypt, to the present day, in the field of handmade furniture, doors, fencing and
roofing, where date palm midribs are utilized as reliable materials to benefit from
their abundance, high renewability rate and cost-efficiency. Bundling, ropes-
fastening and simple friction-based connections were the basic techniques needed
when utilizing date palm midribs in the majority of that technical heritage. Those
simple techniques require no extensive preparation for midribs prior to use. This
ability of direct use is due to the ability of the peripheral layer of a date palm
midrib to resist humidity and direct sunlight. Thus, all those characteristics led to
the widespread utilization of date palm midribs among the poor rural societies in
Egypt, such as in several products for household and traditional rural housing. The
know-how behind this surviving heritage still enjoys high popularity among
craftsmen in Egypt, which makes it possible to build on this knowledge for further
exploitation of the potential of the material. This exploitation is needed to
introduce date palm midribs as a reliable material for light and versatile
construction for rural communities in Egypt.
Research Question
Previous trials of using date palm midribs in wide-span construction varied
between the inclination towards simplicity and spontaneity as tools of preserving
the nature of the material, and the inclination towards depending on
experimentation and machined standardization to achieve maximum productivity
and facilitate mass production. However, the spread of those trials remain limited
and uncompleted. Therefore, the main question raised by the thesis is: Can a
fusion between traditional spontaneity and analytical experimentation unlock the
structural potentials of date palm midribs while sustaining the objectives of
simplicity and productivity?
Hypothesis
“Implementing traditional date palm midribs techniques in the design of
wide-span structurally efficient component can successfully demonstrate the
strength of the material, and refurbish its integrity as local, low-cost and highly
productive building material for the rural communities in Egypt.” Main Objective
“To design and develop a versatile wide-span date palm midribs building
component, based on the renovation of traditional techniques, in order to
demonstrate and evaluate the potentials of date palm midribs as a reliable and
highly- productive structural material .”
Procedural Objectives and Structure
1. Procedural Objective 1: To define the dominant traditional techniques of
dealing with date palm midribs.
Chapter 1: Heritage of Date Palm in Egypt.
This chapter investigated the status of date palms in Egypt, with an
emphasis on date palm midribs as a versatile and renewable date palm byproduct.
Traditional handicrafts and traditional rural construction using date palm midribs
were analyzed. The most wide-spread techniques were found to be rope-fastening,
bundling and friction-based joinery.
2. Procedural Objective 2: To investigate the previous trials of using date
palm midribs in Wide-span construction and determine the gap between
those the approaches of both trials.
Chapter 2: Previous Trials of Wide-Span Construction Using Date Palm
Midribs The challenges facing reviving date palm midribs in construction were
found to revolve around the gap between the spontaneous approach that
preserves the nature of the material, yet without reaching the maximum potential;
and the analytical approach that i ndustrializes the material to produce a highly-
productive standardized substitute to timber. The spontaneous approach
emphasized on using date palm midribs in arched bundles, clearly inspired from
their traditional techniques. The analytical approach emphasized on the
longitudinal transition of forces in the midribs and utilized that fact to produce
moment-free trusses. A methodology was proposed to design, develop and
evaluate a date palm midribs wide-span building component.
3. Procedural Objective 3: To merge between the simplicity and spontaneity
of arches and the structural efficiency of trusses to introduce a wide-span
component that unlocks the structural potential of date palm midribs
while depending mainly on traditional techniques. Chapter 3: Design of Wide-Span Date Palm Midribs Building
Components
This chapter followed the proposed methodology to determine the needs
the component is required to serve. This chapter also investigated the structural
characteristics of arches and the structural theories that evolved based on the
concept of arches. The structural concept was generated by merging the simplicity
of arches with the structural efficiency of trusses led to the design of the Tri-arched
space truss (TAST). Finally, the details of the design were developed by the three
Vitruvius Fundamentals of Architecture and visualized by a 1:20 physical model.
4. Procedural Objective 4: To validate the structural performance of the
date palm midribs tri-arched space truss.
Chapter 4: Evaluation of Structural Performance of Date Palm
Midribs Tri-Arched Space Truss
This chapter evaluated the structural behavior of the developed systems.
1:3 specimens were built and tested under vertical loading in the Concrete
laboratory in the faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University. The specimens were
built by local crate workers who reported that the building procedures were fast
and easily grasped. The date palm midribs demonstrated high flexibility with
gradual failure. The specimens maintained their initial form after releasing the
loads and allowed for the reusability of the undamaged members. The reported
behavior was used to validate the Finite Element Method (FEM) model in order to
predict the actual behavior in full scale. The model showed that the 12m span
design was safe under standard sheathing and wind loads.
5. Procedural Objective 5: To implement the validated system into light
wide-span techniques to introduce versatile structures while satisfying
the market demands and adhere to the governmental restrictions.
Chapter 5: Implementing Date Palm Midribs Tri -Arched Space
Truss into Wide-Span Building Arrangements The developed system was to be implemented into fully form active
arrangements for maximum structural efficiency. Therefore in this chapter, the
main functions that were to be hosted by those arrangements were selected
according to the restrictions of the Egyptian Code of Fire Protection and the social
familiarity of using the relevant techniques in the buildings of those functions.
Accordingly, the TAST braced barrel vaults were proposed to host multifunction gatherings, and the TAST tensile fabric structures were proposed to host
traditional markets. Both designs were analyzed structurally and were proved to
be safe under standard wind loads. In addition, alternatives were derived from
those basic designs to allow for more diversity.
Terminology Guide
Building component: the unit of a structural arrangement that is
comprehensive of material, architectural and structural design.
Building technique: the method used to by a builder to assemble a structure in
a particular way according to the availability of the material, finance and
manpower and the required structural durability within maximum material
and labor efficiency.
Date palm byproducts: products of date palm other than date, resultant from
the annual pruning process.
Productivity: the ability to sustain efficient mass production, reusability and
modifiability in product desi gn.
Structural arrangement: the spatial assembly of building components and
structural systems to maintain architectural function.
Structural element: the basic unit in structural design.
Technical heritage: the comprehensive school of building and handcraft
techniques inherited through generations.
Validation: confirming the correspondence between actual performance and
predicted analysis.