Comparative compressive strength of stabilized and un-stabilized rammed earth

Abstract

In order to minimize the unsustainable use of natural resources and massive consumption of energy in manufacturing of building materials (like cement, brick) and to protect the environment from the critical natural hazards like global warming (due to emission of CO2 during production phase), the green home technique (i.e. rammed earth construction) is seen to be an efficient technique. In this paper, the suitability of rammed earth construction has been highlighted on the basis of results obtained by testing compressive strength of cube samples made using locally available materials like soil with/without stabilizers. Four categories of sample i.e. stabilized samples using cement with/without curing, using dung as stabilizer, using cement with black cotton soil and un-stabilized samples were moulded and tested. Results show that strength of stabilized sample is sufficiently high to use it as a building material.