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Journal ArticleDOI

Mechanical behaviour of earthen materials: A comparison between earth block masonry, rammed earth and cob

TL;DR: In this article, a comparison of the mechanical performance of structural elements built in three basic techniques, earth block (adobe) masonry, rammed earth and cob, is presented in order to gain better knowledge on the structural behaviour under static loads.
About: This article is published in Construction and Building Materials.The article was published on 2014-06-30. It has received 229 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Rammed earth & Masonry.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review of the state of the art of research on the influence of these various natural and renewable resources in unfired earth materials such as compressed earth blocks, plasters, and extruded and stabilized blocks is presented.

249 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that stabilization with Portland cement is neither technically nor environmentally advisable, as it brings only moderate mechanical improvement at a high environmental cost, and that it would be more appropriate to adapt the architectural practice and/or to look for milder ways to improve properties.

137 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an experimental program aiming at assessing the mechanical performance of rammed earth walls, namely under compression and shear loading, was presented, where axial compression and diagonal compression tests were carried out for this purpose, which allowed determining important mechanical parameters, such as compressive strength, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, shear strength, etc.
Abstract: The paper presents an experimental program aiming at assessing the mechanical performance of rammed earth walls, namely under compression and shear loading. Axial compression and diagonal compression tests were carried out for this purpose, which allowed determining important mechanical parameters, such as compressive strength, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, shear strength and shear modulus. Furthermore, it allowed assessing the level of non-linear behaviour of the respective stress–strain relationships as well as the failure modes. The experimental results were then used in the calibration of numerical models (finite element method) for simulating the non-linear behaviour of rammed earth under shear loading. Both macro- and micro modelling approaches were considered for this purpose. The total strain rotating crack model was used to simulate the behaviour of the rammed earth material, while the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion was used to simulate the behaviour of interfaces between layers. In general, the numerical models achieved good agreement with the experimental results, but uncertainties related to the definition of the input parameters required to perform a sensitivity analysis. The compressive strength, the Poisson’s ratio, the tensile strength and the tensile fracture energy revealed to be the most important parameters in the analyses.

109 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, unconfined compression tests were performed on different compacted earth samples conditioned at different relative humidity levels and axial and radial strains were measured using noncontact sensors and an image correlation system.

108 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the improvement of compressive strength properties of adobe popularly used in rural houses in district Hamirpur of state Himachal Pradesh of north India has been studied.

97 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the application of sisal and coconut fibres in conjunction with three types of locally appropriate soil for the production of composite soil blocks reinforced with Sisal and Coconut fibres is presented.
Abstract: Next to the food shortage, the housing shortage is one of the most crucial problems on earth. To improve this situation and make it possible to build more houses, particularly for low-income families, it is necessary to examine all locally available materials which can be used for construction. Bamboo, sisal and coconut fibres are materials which are available in abundance in Brazil and are not used in civil construction. To increase the amount of information concerning the physical and mechanical behaviour of these materials several research programmes were executed at Pontifical Universidade Catolica in Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPb) under the general supervision of the first author. In this paper new results are presented concerning the application of sisal and coconut fibres in conjunction with three types of locally appropriate soil for the production of composite soil blocks reinforced with sisal and coconut fibres.

345 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the mechanical properties of certain combinations of fibrous waste materials and some stabilisers were investigated thoroughly and some concrete conclusions were drawn and it was concluded that the interface layers of the fibrous materials increased the compressive strength and a certain geometrical shape of these layer materials gave the best results.

278 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of fiber length and fiber fraction on shrinkage, compressive strength, flexural strength and shear strength was investigated in composite soil reinforced with chopped barley straw, using four different soils.
Abstract: The shortage of low cost and affordable housing in Algeria has led to many investigations into local low cost construction materials. Earth construction is widespread in desert and rural areas but suffers from shrinkage cracking, low strength and lack of durability. The use of natural and vegetable fibres could improve its performance. This paper reports on an experimental study to investigate a composite soil reinforced with chopped barley straw, using four different soils. The effect of fibre length and fibre fraction on shrinkage, compressive strength, flexural strength and shear strength was investigated. Preliminary tests to enhance durability by using different waterproof renders are also briefly reported.

252 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a novel approach to specifying and creating rammed earth soil recipes, through a process of blending graded quarry material, has been presented, allowing the accurate control of parameters such as particle-size distribution.

215 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the workability and mechanical properties of Roman adobe earthen bricks change by varying the percentage of an on situ soil, straw and coarse sand into the mixture to produce them.

143 citations