Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Dec 23;8(1):1-15.
doi: 10.3390/ma8010001.

First Exploratory Study on the Ageing of Rammed Earth Material

Quoc-Bao Bui  1 , Jean-Claude Morel  2
Affiliations

First Exploratory Study on the Ageing of Rammed Earth Material

Quoc-Bao Bui et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Rammed earth (RE) is attracting renewed interest throughout the world thanks to its "green" characteristics in the context of sustainable building. In this study, the ageing effects on RE material are studied on the walls which have been constructed and exposed for 22 years to natural weathering. First, mechanical characteristics of the "old" walls were determined by two approaches: in-situ dynamic measurements on the walls; laboratory tests on specimens which had been cut from the walls. Then, the walls' soil was recycled and reused for manufacturing of new specimens which represented the initial state. Comparison between the compressive strength, the Young modulus of the walls after 22 years on site and that of the initial state enables to assess the ageing of the studied walls.

Keywords: ageing; in-situ measurement; rammed earth; sustainable development.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A rammed earth wall more than 200 years old. Upper: front view; bottom: plan.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Rammed earth walls constructed and exposed for 22 years to natural weathering.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Grain size distribution of the used soil.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Arrangement of the sensors on the wall A (dimensions in mm).
Figure 5
Figure 5
A result of wall A induced by shock 1 (a); shock 2 (b); and shock 3 (c).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Wall A modelled with FEM.
Figure 7
Figure 7
First vibration modes of the wall A. (a) First vibration mode, in the transversal direction; (b) second vibration mode, in the longitudinal direction.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Cutting a wall with chainsaw.
Figure 9
Figure 9
A specimen (40 × 40 × 70) cm3 after the compression test.
Figure 10
Figure 10
A specimen (20 × 20 × 40) cm3 cut from a specimen (40 × 40 × 20) cm3.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bui Q.B., Morel J.C., Hans S., Meunier N. Compression behaviour of nonindustrial materials in civil engineering by three scale experiments: The case of rammed earth. Mater. Struct. 2009;42:1101–1116. doi: 10.1617/s11527-008-9446-y. - DOI
    1. Walker P., Keable R., Martin J., Maniatidis V. Rammed Earth-Design and Construction Guidelines. BRE Bookshop; Watford, UK: 2005.
    1. Habert G., Castillo E., Vincens E., Morel J.C. Power: A new paradigm for energy use in sustainable construction. Ecol. Indic. 2012;23:109–115. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.03.016. - DOI
    1. Allinson D., Hall M. Hygrothermal analysis of a stabilised rammed earth test building in the UK. Energy Build. 2010;42:845–852. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2009.12.005. - DOI
    1. Bui Q.B., Morel J.C., Reddy B.V.V., Ghayad W. Durability of rammed earth walls exposed for 20 years to natural weathering. Build. Environ. 2009;44:912–919. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2008.07.001. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources