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Corresponding Author

Oan, Ahmed

Subject Area

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Currently, there is a crucial demand to construct affordable housing which can be achieved by producing building materials that are characterized as low cost and environmentally friendly sustainable materials. Many researches have been carried out to develop such materials. One of the most common trends in this regard is using stabilized soil that can be compressed in steel moulds to produce masonry units. The produced units are therefore named “Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks; CSEB”. However, there is still necessity to better understand their physical and mechanical properties under different service conditions in order to evaluate the viability of such masonry units. The experimental program designed for this study included casting 96 50mm cubes. Specimens were categorized according to different proportions of silt, sand and stabilizing materials. The stabilizing materials used were cement, bitumen, and white gluten. Specimens were tested in compression to determine their compressive strength at 7 and 28-day. Specimens were also tested to determine the water absorption of each mixture. Results show that cement is the best stabilizing material among the examined materials. There is a specific percentage of stabilizing material that gives the maximum compressive strength, after which adding more stabilizing material reduces the compressive strength

Keywords

Compressed soil blocks; CSEB; building units; Water Absorption

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