This paper presents some mechanical properties of concrete reinforced with dry water hyacinth stem and quarry dust as fine aggregates. Fresh water hyacinth stems were collected from Lake Victoria; sun dried for a week and chopped into 3 cm long pieces. Sieve analysis was done for fine and coarse aggregates. Concrete mix designs were done according to Department of Environment (United Kingdom) method. A total of 32 cubes of concrete were cast (16 horizontal orientations of fiber, and 16 vertical orientations of fibers). Dry water hyacinth stems were incorporated during casting of cubes in terms of 0%, 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3% of the volume of cube. Average compressive and split tensile strength tests were performed after 28 days. The results showed concrete composed of horizontal orientation of dry water hyacinth stem fibers had an average optimum tensile strength of 1.5 N/mm2 corresponding to 0.1% replacement. In vertical orientation, there was uniform decrease in tensile strength as the percentage replacement increased. Compressive strengths decreased slightly as the composition of water hyacinth fibers increased for both vertical and horizontal orientations.

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This research work presents the application of guinea corn husk (GCH) and cow hair (CH) fibres as reinforcement in cement composite. The influence of the hybrid fibre volume on the flexural performance of the composite has been studied experimentally. The mechanical (flexural strength) and physical (density, water absorptivity, moisture content) characteristics of the GCH-CH hybrid fibre reinforced composite were evaluated. The highest flexural strength was 22.37MPa, exhibited by the composite reinforced with 15% (12.5% GCH & 2.5% CH) hybrid fibre. The density of the GCH-CH hybrid composite ranged from 1019 to 1963 kg/m3. The water absorptivity varied from 22.59 to 38.16% and the moisture content ranged from 3.32 to 11.28%. These limits are within the range in standard therefore, the performance of the composite satisfies the requirements of BS EN 12467 standard for ceiling board.