Experimental testing of the in-plane behavior of bearing modern rammed earth walls

Abstract

With the introduction of the modern rammed earth technique, a large number of modern rammed earth buildings were constructed in China Mainland. China has a vast territory, which faces the Circum-Pacific seismic belt on the east and the Eurasian seismic belt on the south; earthquake has constantly threatened the safety of people's lives and property. Consequently, it is necessary to probe in the seismic performance of rammed earth buildings. Two un-stabilized rammed earth specimens, one un-stabilized rammed earth reinforced with geogrid sheets' specimens, and four stabilized rammed earth specimens were built for obtaining a better insight on the behavior of un-stabilized rammed earth/stabilized rammed earth walls under cyclic in-plane loads. Testing results are discussed in terms of failure mode, shear capacity, hysteretic curve, stiffness degradation, and total energy dissipation to provide comparisons of the seismic performance between un-stabilized rammed earth and stabilized rammed earth specimens. Different failure modes indicated that the cohesion between particles and the bond strength between layers are the two key parameters for the shear capacity of rammed earth buildings. It is also demonstrated that stabilized rammed earth specimens have higher shear and energy dissipation capacity but weaker deformation capacity than un-stabilized rammed earth.

Sustainable Analysis of Cement-Stabilized Rammed Earth Construction in Rural Areas: A Case Study in Southeast China

“…Until the 1990s, research on rammed earth construction remained at the level of consolidating work progress, material science, and construction tool upgrading [9]. Researchers have attached great importance to testing the physical properties, hydrothermal performance [10][11][12], resistance to natural threats by adding binders [11,[13][14][15][16], or contemporary structures [17][18][19][20][21]. Martin Rauch, a rammed earth architect and researcher known for his extensive knowledge of rammed earth construction, defined rammed earth as a composition of clay, sand, and gravel packed into molds and compressed layer by layer to create a cohesive structure [8].…”

Enhancing the Mechanical Properties of Polymer-Stabilized Rammed Earth Construction

“…The unconfined compressive strength of samples is often used as an indicator of the vertical load-carrying capacity of RE, with noted variations in local soil samples [29]. To this end, it has been determined that stabilized rammed earth specimens have higher shear and energy dissipation capacities, but a weaker deformation capacity than un-stabilized rammed earth [30].…”

Predicting the effect of weathering and corrosion on the bond properties of bamboo- and steel-reinforced cement-stabilized rammed earth blocks

“…In rammed earth construction, soil is placed in between formwork and compacted one layer after the other. Thickness of walls may vary from 250 mm to even 600 mm due to which they possess high thermal insulation capacity and are relatively strong in compression (Arslan et al, 2017;Jaquin et al, 2006;Kariyawasam and Jayasinghe, 2016;Reddy and Kumar, 2011;Zhou et al, 2018).…”