Durability of cement-stabilised rammed earth: a case study in Western Australia

C.T.S. Beckett, D. Ciancio
2015 Australian Journal of Civil Engineering  
6 Cement-stabilised rammed earth (CSRE) is a popular building material in Australia due to its natural aesthetic, good thermal properties and environmental appeal. However, little work has been done investigating the effect of 7 unconfined compressive strength 8 use of stabilisers also allows a wider range of soil types to be used; for ex-29 ample, soils with lower or higher clay contents than those recommended for 30 unstabilised construction can be used if stabilised with Portland cement or
more » ... hydrated lime respectively [6]. 32 Although the use of stabilisers for RE construction has been an accepted 33 practice in Australia over the last 30 years, the technique's youth means that 34 there is still a distinct lack of data regarding the long-term durability of these 35 materials. Current Australian RE construction guidelines [19] therefore re-36 quire very high factors of safety for material strength in order to account 37 for any degradation that may occur, resulting in highly conservative designs 38 and, potentially, unnecessarily high construction costs. 39 This paper presents a case study conducted on material obtained from 40 a Portland cement-stabilised RE (CSRE) wall, built in 1980 in Cottesloe, 41 Perth (WA) and exposed to weathering for over 30 years. Degradation in 42 terms of both strength (unconfined compressive strength, UCS) and material 43 losses are discussed. Methods used to measure degradation in non-rammed 44 earth materials are then examined in order to determine their suitability 45 and applicability for use with CSRE when compared to results found in 46 the field. Findings are then used to identify key issues pertinent to the 47 157 relative humidity and 21 ± 1 • C for seven days to ensure suction uniformity. 158 As the wall was constructed using ramming layers of roughly 150mm 159 9 compacted depth, core samples contained several such layers along their
doi:10.1080/14488353.2015.1092671 fatcat:zd5yk6f4lzffvb552occrnhaoy