Compressive strength of compressed earth block masonry

Abstract

Masonry structures constitute a great part of the building stock in the world. Earth block masonry as architectural heritage attracts the interest of engineers for maintenance and modern construction since it is a material of high ecological profile. This issue gains more and more field in the engineering community. Compressive strength is one of the essential mechanical properties to characterise the stress bearing capacity of the materials. The objective of this research is the evaluation of the compressive strength of the earth block masonry by using specimens of different geometry aspect ratios. Firstly in the experimental programme, was optimised the synthesis of the mixture for both, earth brocks and earth mortars. For this purpose an adequate number of earth blocks were produced in the laboratory using an apparatus especially designed for that. Uniaxial compression tests are typically undertaken on samples of earth mortars, on single earth blocks, on doublets, and triplets of blocks and lastly on masonry specimens. Therefore a complete image of the behaviour of the earth on the construction is given. In addition, stress-strain diagrams and elasticity modulus are made and discussed. The results of this work could be useful for the design of earth block structures.