Strength Behavior of Rammed Earth Stabilized with Metakaolin

Abstract

Rammed earth is an ancient construction technique practiced in India and in other parts of the world. The ancient traditional technique was of the un-stabilized method but incorporating suitable stabilizing materials will improve the strength of rammed earth construction. The main objective of the present study is to assess the behavior of the rammed earth with metakaolin. The suitability of the soil was tested based on sieve analysis and followed by mini compaction tests; optimum moisture content for the rammed earth construction for the selected soil was fixed for different proportions of binders with the soil. From the compaction results, the binder content was fixed for stabilization of rammed earth. The unconfined compressive strength of the sample was found for the samples at 7, 14, 28 days of curing, and microstructural studies of the samples were performed. The compression strength of rammed earth cubes was tested and also the durability of the cubes was determined by the spray erosion test. © 2020, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.