## 4 Data Analysis
### Initial Cost
#### 4.1.1 Raw Materials  
Based on the literature and considering that the adobe is fabricated in a cold climate, it can be concluded that the adobe for this region (in the dry mass of adobe) is composed of the following:  
* 60% of fine soil, which is a mixture of clay and silt.
* 40% of sand.
* 1:5 organic material (such as straw or sawdust) by volume, which was incorporated into the overall composition [9; 27].  
In Table 2, the first column contains the materials to be used, followed by the mass percentages of fine soil and sand required for manufacturing. The third column was added because the adobe manufacturing standards Norma E.08 Design and Construction with Reinforced Earth [27] and NORMA CHILENA NCh3332 Structural design--Retrofitting of historic earth buildings--Requirements for structural design planning indicate [43] that the amount of water and vegetal fibers should be in volume.  
The last column shows the results of the corresponding mass calculations. To obtain these masses, the dry density of the adobe was assumed to be 15.29 kN/m\({}^{3}\) (1.559 g/cm\({}^{3}\)), which is the value obtained from a structure located in the Center Historic of Quito, as indicated in Table 1. To acquire the material costs, it is imperative to obtain the volume of each component. This can be achieved by utilizing the dry density of each material, which enables us to perform accurate calculations.  
In our extensive analysis, we have allocated the corresponding values of 1.40 g/cm\({}^{3}\) and 1.70 g/cm\({}^{3}\) to represent the density of fine soil and fine sand, respectively. These values were derived from the data presented in Appendix A.  
With these data and the defined dimensions, the masses in the bulk of each material were obtained.  
We standardized the materials by mass to assess their cost based on volume, as shown in Table 3. The values for the quantity of materials are presented in the first column, whereas the third and fourth columns represent the percentages of waste and fluffing, respectively. These values were adjusted to reflect the results shown in the fifth column.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Material**} & **Percentage (\%) by** & **Percentage (\%) by** & **Mass Requires** \\  & **Mass** & **Volume** & **(g)** \\ \hline Fine (clay/silt) & 60 & — & 7483.20 \\ Fine sand & 40 & — & 4988.80 \\ Fibers (straw or sawdust) & — & 20 & 0.2600 \\ Water content & — & 20 & 2994.40 1 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{1}\) Considering the temperature of the water at 19 \({}^{\circ}\)C (the prevailing water temperature in Quito, Ecuador), we obtained a density of 0.998 g/cm\({}^{3}\).  
\end{table}
Table 2: Quantities necessary to fabricate an adobe brick measuring 10 \(\times\) 20 \(\times\) 40 cm.  
The cost of each materials was obtained from databases of Camara de la Industria de la Constructcion from Ecuador and Empresa Publica Metropolitana de Movilidad y Obras Publicas.  
The price for extracting the material, including the utilization of heavy machinery for artisanal block production and shorter production times, was determined to be USD 0.0891 per adobe block.