Abstract
Rammed earth (RE) is a construction material which is manufactured by compacting soil by layers within a formwork to build a monolithic wall. RE material is the subject of numerous scientific researches during the last decade because of the significant heritage of RE buildings and the sustainable properties of this material: low embodied energy, substantial thermal inertia, and natural regulator of moisture. The seismic performance of RE buildings is an interesting topic which needs to be thoroughly investigated. This paper presents a numerical study which assesses the relevancy of a seismic reinforcement technique for RE walls by using two vertical steel rods installed at two extremities of the walls. The discrete element method (DEM) was used to model unreinforced and reinforced RE walls. These walls were first loaded with a vertical stress on the top to simulate the vertical loads and then submitted to a horizontal loading on the top to simulate the seismic action. Two current cases of RE buildings were investigated: one-storey and two-storey buildings. The results showed that the reinforcement technique enhanced the maximum horizontal force about 25% and 10%, respectively, for the cases of one- and two-storey buildings. Higher effectiveness of this reinforcement technique is expected for RE materials having higher compressive strength, for example, stabilized RE.
Highlights
In the past decades, vernacular construction techniques have been objects of different scientific researches by academics and professional societies [1,2,3,4]
Advances in Civil Engineering the relevancy of the seismic reinforcement technique which uses two vertical steel rods at two extremities of an rammed earth (RE) wall. e study was carried out with a numerical model using the discrete element modelling (DEM) and the nonlinear pushover method. e numerical model used was successfully applied in the previous studies [22, 27]; the present study focuses on the numerical assessment on the reinforcement technique proposed to enhance the seismic performance of RE walls
By comparing the cases between unreinforced and reinforced with vertical rods prestressed at 0.05 MPa and 0.10 MPa, the maximum horizontal force increased about 22% and 27% (122.8 kN compared to 150.2 kN and 156.4 kN, respectively)
Summary
Vertical Rods as a Seismic Reinforcement Technique for Rammed Earth Walls: An Assessment. Rammed earth (RE) is a construction material which is manufactured by compacting soil by layers within a formwork to build a monolithic wall. Is paper presents a numerical study which assesses the relevancy of a seismic reinforcement technique for RE walls by using two vertical steel rods installed at two extremities of the walls. E results showed that the reinforcement technique enhanced the maximum horizontal force about 25% and 10%, respectively, for the cases of one- and two-storey buildings. Higher effectiveness of this reinforcement technique is expected for RE materials having higher compressive strength, for example, stabilized RE
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