Ductility analysis of vegetal-fiber reinforced raw earth concrete by mixture design

Abstract

Building construction technology by raw earth materials is already known and used since ancient times. The raw earth material is abundant, low cost, requires very low energy to manufacture and does not generate waste. Ductility is required for earth building materials in the areas of seismic risks where the earth buildings are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes. Hence, a raw earth treatment by binders and vegetal fibers is one of the techniques applied to improve its strength and ductility. This paper presents the use of mixture design as a tool to evaluate and analyze the plastic behavior of the raw earth material. The ductility is quantified through two ductility indices. The results indicate that an alternative ductility index based on the post-peak behavior of the material could be used to define a ductility criterion to meet specific requirements of the seismic regions.