I recommend caution building a Hiperpapercrete dome.
It may work great in that manner, but it may not. There are many unknowns since this has never been attempted before.
Earthbags become extremely strong the moment they are tamped into place. They do get stronger as they cure and dry, but they start out with a lot of strength right after tamping.
I'm not certain how papercrete will react while it is still damp in a mesh bag or tube. Papercrete in its uncured damp state is not very stable and falls apart easily. The mesh tube may solve that problem just fine and a dome could be built easily. Then again, it may not.
Since papecrete gains most of its strength once it dries, it would be very important to consider how the structure will behave while it is being constructed. I would hate for someone to attempt a dome only to have it fall out from under them as they are working on it, or have it fall in on someone.
Proceed with caution until we have reports about how walls built in this manner behave while still wet. I can honestly say I don't know what to expect. Climbing up on a dome that is still made from big wet noodles may not be very smart.
Once the papercrete cures and dries, I'm confident that most any reasonable form can be very strong. It's the constuction process that concerns me. Temporary bracing while drying may be necessary, then removed after the papercrete is dry.
As far vertical walls, either straight boxes or curved, this should be significantly safer and more predictable for a starting point until we learn more about how these wet noodles might act.
Your point about buttresses is sound, but for a small test structure it probably won't be necessary. As walls get longer and taller, buttresses become more important. Don't forget that an interior intersecting partition wall can also serve as a buttress to the longer exterior wall. Interlacing the tubes every other layer is important to keep the intersection strong, especially on a buttress.
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, JUDITH WILLIAMS <williams_judith@...> wrote:
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> I looked into this a while back and I think what stopped me from going ahead with it was the price. When I looked up sources I found there were huge minimum orders. Maybe you would need a huge amount of the knit raschal. I don't know how to estimate that. Anyway, I like the idea and would give it a try. You would have to make domes with it though or the walls would fall in without some sort of buttress. If I could get some of the knit stuff easily I would probably try it for a garden wall filling the first course with pumice in stead of papercrete. the video has good music.
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