Structural Capacity of Rammed Earth in Compression
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 20, Issue 3
Abstract
Rammed earth walls are formed by compacting subsoil in thin layers inside temporary supporting formwork. An ancient form of construction, rammed earth has in recent years, together with other earth building methods, been increasingly used structurally in a range of contemporary buildings in many countries around the world. Though current structural design procedures for earth walls, including rammed earth, in general use provisions based on structural masonry standards, this approach has never been satisfactorily validated. This paper presents experimental results from material and large-scale testing and develops a simple theoretical model, applied to rammed earth columns subject to concentric and eccentric axial compression loading. An analytical model, using a basic strut theory, shows favorable correlation with the experimental results for all load eccentricities.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank the Department of Trade & Industry (DTi), U.K., for supporting this research work as part of their Partners in Innovation scheme. The input from various partners is also gratefully acknowledged, in particular, that from In Situ Rammed Earth Construction Ltd., who prepared the large scale specimens. Finally, colleagues at the University of Bath, in particular Sophie Hayward, Neil Price, Brian Purnell, and Graham Mott, are thanked for their input to this work.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 20 • Issue 3 • March 2008
Pages: 230 - 238
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 22, 2006
Accepted: Nov 27, 2006
Published online: Mar 1, 2008
Published in print: Mar 2008
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Kiang Hwee Tan
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