Novel Simplified Construction of Walls and Prisms Made of CEBs and Earth-Based Mortar
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 25, Issue 4
Abstract
Compressed earth blocks (CEBs) have been increasingly studied and used in the past few decades as an eco-friendly alternative to regularly practiced concrete-and-masonry systems; especially in remote rural areas in developing countries. In most of the cases in which CEBs were used, mortars containing portland cement and/or other artificial binding materials have been used, which reduces the eco-friendliness of the constructed CEB structures. In the research presented in this paper, CEBs are manufactured manually using a simplified novel technique and earth-based mortars are developed using an earth mixture involving an industrial byproduct. The bond between the earth-based mortar and the CEBs was tested experimentally. The developed mortar is used to construct CEB prisms and walls after preroughening of the CEB surface. The prisms and walls were tested structurally until failure. Furthermore, the durability of the walls was assessed by performing cycles of wetting and drying on the walls. The results were found to be promising in constructing structurally sound and durable CEB buildings.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The data that could be made available are the tabulated structural test results together with the tabulated soil test results.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the American University in Cairo for funding this work and the lab personnel in the Construction Engineering Department in the American University in Cairo for their efforts.
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Published In
Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 25 • Issue 4 • November 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 14, 2020
Accepted: Jun 17, 2020
Published online: Sep 9, 2020
Published in print: Nov 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Feb 9, 2021
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