Developing a Mud block for load bearing wall with 10% cement and low fines content

Abstract

Mud blocks are one of the oldest and most widely used building materials and dates back to 8000 Before Christ. The development of a new type of soil cement block called Mud block with 10% cement with low fine content using pouring method is the main purpose of this research. 10% and 15% of fine content were defined as the low fine content in this research as it was a part of the continuous research series. Initially the optimum gravel and sand content to achieve high strength was determined and it was concluded that 30% of gravel content was the optimum for both fine content. Then the moisture content corresponding to the pouring stage of soil mixture consists of optimum gravel, sand and 10% and 15% of fine content was found and the values were an average of 18% and 20% respectively. Pouring stage was found when the soli mixture behaves as high consistency liquid. Six blocks were cast each fine content; three blocks were used to determine the dry compressive strength and other three were used to determine the wet compressive strength. Length, width and height of one block were 325mm, 200mm and 125mm respectively and weight was about 15kg. Dry and wet compressive strength achieved satisfies the minimum strength requirement of block used for the construction of load bearing wall according to the SLS 1382. Therefore these blocks can be used in load bearing wall construction. The strength achieved is fairly high than the minimum requirements. So for the future study of Mud blocks, it is recommended to reduce the cement content for casting the Mud blocks.