Abstract
Unfired earth is a sustainable construction material with low embodied energy, but its development requires a better evaluation of its moisture–thermal buffering abilities and its mechanical behavior. Both of them are known to strongly depend on the amount of water contained in its porous network and its evolution with external conditions (temperature, humidity), which can be assessed through several sorption–desorption curves at different temperature. However, the direct measurement of these curves is particularly time consuming (up to 2 month per curve) and thus, indirect means of their determination appear of main importance for evident time saving and economical reasons. In this context, this paper focuses on the prediction of the evolution of sorption curves with temperature on earth plasters and compacted earth samples. For that purpose, two methods are proposed. The first one is an adaptation of the isosteric method, which gives the variation of relative humidity with temperature at constant water content. The second one, based on the liquid–gas interface equilibrium, gives the variation of water content with temperature at constant relative humidity. These two methods lead to quite consistent and complementary results. It underlines their capability to predict the sorption curves of the tested materials at several temperatures from the sole knowledge of one sorption curve at a given temperature. Finally, these predictions are used to scan the range of temperature variation within which the evolution of water content with temperature at constant humidity could be neglected or should be taken into account.
Highlights
Earthen materials for building construction are gaining nowadays in interest due to their large ecological potential
The decrease in strength with moisture, which is well known in soil mechanics, has been demonstrated for rammed earth [7,8,9]
Isosteric method provides the variation of equilibrium relative humidity with temperature at constant water content while interface method gives the variation of water content with temperature at constant relative humidity
Summary
Earthen materials for building construction are gaining nowadays in interest due to their large ecological potential They allow to drastically reduce fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the manufacture compared to conventionally used materials [1, 2]. It was shown that the use of hygroscopic materials leads to a significant reduction of moisture variation amplitudes, which induces energy savings on ventilation and heating [6]. This is due to the microstructure of the earth, which enables hydric exchanges between the environment and water molecules on the pore surfaces through condensation/evaporation and sorption/desorption phenomena. It appears that the liquid water content of a rammed earth wall is a key parameter in order to understand the behavior and the strength of this material
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