Abstract
Loading rate and specimen geometry are critical parameters used in simple compressive tests to determine the strength of earth materials. In this study, cubic and cylindrical unstabilized compacted earth block of different sizes were manufactured and tested in unconfined compression to investigate the size and shape effects on the compressive strength of earth materials under different loading rates. The correlation between the compressive strength of earth materials and the geometric parameters of the specimen was determined. The recommended loading rate and sample for testing the compressive strength of earth materials were given. Finally, a constitutive model for describing the stress-strain response of earth materials was proposed. This model modifies the defects of the constitutive equations suggested in previous studies and may be applied to the numerical analysis of earth structure.
Highlights
Earth as a natural building material has been widely used all over the world [1], and it can be attributed to the many advantages such as low cost, excellent thermal performance, and easy to use local materials [2]
Compressive strength is the most important mechanical property of earth materials and one of the fundamental mechanical parameters required for earth structure design. erefore, accurate measurement of the compressive strength of earth materials was of high research and engineering significance
In most of the existing study, the size and shape of the specimen for determining the uniaxial compressive strength of earth materials were different, and the loading rates used in the simple compressive test were not uniform [10,11,12,13]
Summary
Earth as a natural building material has been widely used all over the world [1], and it can be attributed to the many advantages such as low cost, excellent thermal performance, and easy to use local materials [2]. In most of the existing study, the size and shape of the specimen for determining the uniaxial compressive strength of earth materials were different, and the loading rates used in the simple compressive test were not uniform [10,11,12,13]. For concrete-like materials, a significant number of studies indicated that the enhancement of compressive strength at high loading rate was mainly caused by a combination of fundamental material behavior and inertial confinement effects [21,22,23]. Is study performed simple compression tests on cubic and cylindrical compressed earth blocks (CEBs) to investigate the influences of specimen size, specimen shape, and loading rate on the compressive properties of earth materials. The constitutive model for describing CEB’s stress-strain behavior under compression was proposed
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