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The University of Abomey-Calavi has a new doctor in engineering materials and structures. It is Houétondoté Ghildas Raoul Sekloka who supported publicly, on Wednesday March 15, 2023, his doctoral thesis at the Doctoral School of Engineering Sciences of the said University before an international jury.
After 5 years of research at the Doctoral School of Engineering Sciences of the University of Abomey-Calavi, Houétondoté Ghildas Raoul Sekloka managed to obtain his doctoral degree on Wednesday March 15, 2023. Unanimously, the jury awarded him this grade in the materials and structures specialty with the A rating. road pavements”. A subject that led him to do research in several laboratories in Benin and in Europe. Long before his defence, the results obtained by the candidate were published in several newspapers. Indeed, there are regions in the world where conventional road materials are running out or are almost non-existent. What prompted Houétondoté Ghildas Raoul Sekloka directed his work towards this subject, which relates to the development of new road materials made from bar earth (clayey sand) and lagoon sand or crushed sand. The goal is to achieve its use in base layers for road pavements to replace the materials commonly used in the process of exhaustion in the southern region of Benin. Thus series of physical, mechanical, chemical, mineralogical and thermal tests were carried out on ten samples, including five samples of bar earth taken from southern Benin. These series of tests first made it possible to assess the homogeneity of the materials by focusing on the repetitiveness of the characterization parameters. The five studied clay soil samples of the lot consist of fibrous minerals and have low swelling potential. For the applicant, it will be necessary to search for substitute materials so that the roads do not cost more. “We had to make improvements and reconstitute the uranometry of this material by adding either lagoon sand or crushed sand. This made it possible to improve its property to which cement was added to serve as a material for the pavement base layer in substitution for laterite which is unavailable in the southern part of Benin”, he says. Continuing his remarks, he specifies that the materials used conventionally are no longer available in southern Benin. You have to travel a long distance to get it. This makes road projects very expensive. “But with this material nearby that you can’t use in its raw state, we tried to improve it. And, we will develop a pavement design guide. Based on this guide, this material can now be used in road construction. After brilliantly defending his thesis, the jury decided to accept his document. “The candidate made a well-structured and time-controlled presentation, supported by good quality media,” noted the jury. According to him, the subject of candidate Houétondoté Ghildas Raoul Sekloka’s thesis is topical and responds to a real need for research on the development of new road materials made from clayey sand and lagoon or crushed sand. The composite obtained, according to the jury, can be used in the course of foundation and shape with the improvement of the cement at rates lower than 5%, the proposed composite can be used in the course of the base. The jury that evaluated the work of Dr Houétondoté Ghildas Raoul Sekloka is made up of Professors Emmanuel Olodo, Nassim Sebaibi, Walid Maherzi, Aristide Houngan, Victor Gbaguidi, Valéry Doko and Mohamed Gibigaye.
Alban Tchalla
