Celaya, Gto., June 7, 2017.- Due to the precarious economic situation in the country, several people in rural zones still build their houses with adobe masonry, a material made basically with soil, straw and water.

With the purpose to have safer and more resistant homes, the professor of the University of Guanajuato, Dr. Jatziri Yunuén Moreno Martínez leads a research focused on studying the behaviour of this construction material, before different static and dynamic requests. Professors of the major in Civil Engineering and Biotechnology Engineering, together with a group of students making their thesis and professional service, work together in such project.

Dr. Moreno belongs to the Department of Agro industrial Engineering of the Division of Health Sciences and Engineering of Campus Celaya. Her research lines are related with the structural analysis of concrete constructions and historical masonry as a case of study for the adobe masonry.

Although there are different regions in Mexico where they use frequently use adobe such as the states of Guerrero, Michoacán and Oaxaca, the study focuses in considering the mechanical properties of the adobe made in different zones of the state of Guanajuato. In an interview, the researcher explained that, to study the behaviour of the adobe houses they initially made three-dimensional numerical situations using the Finite Element Method. Then, they made several destructive and non-destructive tests in adobe masonry with the purpose to determine the mechanical properties of the material.

Likewise, in collaboration with UNAM's Institute of Engineering, they have studies the structural response of adobe housing under dynamic effects.

After the corresponding tests, there is an application of knowledge through advisory in the construction techniques, in this case, they have a liaison with the Delegate of the Chichimeca Mission, San Luis de la Paz –place with the most adobe constructions in the state—, "college students are in touch with people who live in that region and that continue building with adobe, with the purpose to make recommendations that can improve their homes", indicated Dr. Moreno.

Lastly, she highlighted that the research is made thanks to the financing granted by the "Institutional summon of Scientific Research 2016-2017" of the University of Guanajuato in the strategic area of Poverty and Migration.

She also made explicit that one of the main functions of the University of Guanajuato, is to support the community and extrapolate the results in who requires and needs it the most.

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