Moisture transfer and change in strength during the construction of earthen buildings
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/ic.10.023Keywords:
moisture transfer, strength, desiccation, test, earth constructionAbstract
A number of rammed earth projects constructed in recent years in Germany and abroad testify to the high level of architectural interest in this material, not only in our country. Rammed earth has been “rediscovered”, in particular by young architects, due to its unique materiality and fascinating and individual surface aesthetics. In connection with the realisation of two rammed earth projects realised in Thuringia, Germany, in 2003/2004 some questions arose concerning the process of moisture transfer and changes in strength properties during construction. The earthen building standards detail only very rough estimates of drying times for rammed earth walls. The idea arose to develop a test programme for investigating the aspect of drying time with regard to the change in material strength in rammed earth walls, as well as for elaborating general aspects of testing procedures for rammed earth in standards. The paper presents results of a laboratory programme that attempts to approach this very complex problem. A series of test specimens were produced and the unconfined compressive strength was determined after different drying times varying from 7 to 90 days. The moisture content of the test specimens also was varied: at OMC (Proctor test) and above and below the OMC.
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