Optimum Soil Grading for the Soil-Cement Blocks
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 2
Abstract
Large numbers of soil-cement block masonry buildings exist in India and many other countries. The paper deals with an experimental study on the influence of soil grading on the characteristics of soil-cement blocks and shear-bond strength of soil-cement block masonry triplets. Influence of clay content of the soil-cement block on strength, absorption and durability characteristics, and interfacial mortar-block bond strength has been examined. Some of the major conclusions of the study are: (1) optimum clay content leading to maximum strength is in the range of 14–16%; (2) saturated water content of the blocks increases with increase in clay content of the block; (3) initial rate of absorption decreases with increase in clay content of the block; (4) weight loss after ASTM wire scratch test is minimum when the clay content of the block is about 16%; and (5) optimum clay content for the highest modulus for the blocks and for highest shear-bond strength is about 16%.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 19 • Issue 2 • February 2007
Pages: 139 - 148
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 28, 2005
Accepted: Oct 31, 2005
Published online: Feb 1, 2007
Published in print: Feb 2007
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Manoochehr Zoghi
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