Performance of Mechanized Pugged Soil Stabilized Adobe

Abstract

The soil has been the most abundantly available construction material for use in human society, and it has been considered the primary material for any form of construction. Local availability and ease of handling make it one of the most energy-efficient, cost-effective, and reliable building materials for any structure. The traditional construction technology using soil has been undergoing a considerable change over a while, enhancing its quality and durability as a construction material. It has immense benefits in minimizing the impact of environmental pollution. The paper mainly focuses on comparing the strength of Soil Stabilized Adobe (SSA) (size −230 mm*108 mm*100 mm) prepared by mechanized pugging (using wet mixer grinder) and manual pugging. Compare to manual pugging, the process of mechanized pugging increases the consistency of the soil structure making it a homogenous mixture of clay, silt, sand and stabilizers. The soil considered in the study was red soil containing kaolinite type clay and has been reconstituted for 10% clay by adding M−sand. The different parameters considered in the study were: variation in pugging time (Mechanized Pugging −3min, 6 min, and 9 min and Manual Pugging −10 min and 15 min) and stabilizers (Cement alone (8%), lime alone(8%), and Combination of cement (6%) + lime (3%)). The following tests were conducted on SSA samples to study their performance: dry density, compressive strengths, water absorption and initial rate of absorption. The findings showed that, the SSA made by Mechanized pugging is more advantageous compared to Manual Pugging, as it saves time of pugging, increases the strength and consistency of the soil and reduces water absorption. Additionally, increase in pugging time improves the SSAs quality.