TY - JOUR A1 - Miccoli, Lorenzo A1 - Müller, U. A1 - Fontana, Patrick T1 - Mechanical behaviour of earthen materials: A comparison between earth block masonry, rammed earth and cob JF - Construction and building materials N2 - Earth represents one of the oldest construction materials, which is still utilised both in developed and in developing countries. In this paper a comparison of the mechanical performance of structural elements built in three basic techniques, earth block (adobe) masonry, rammed earth and cob, is presented. In order to gain better knowledge on the structural behaviour under static loads an extensive compression and diagonal compression (shear) test campaign was performed. First compression results showed brittle mechanical behaviour in the case of earth block masonry and rammed earth elements, whereas cob exhibited a very different stress–strain pattern: cob can deform beyond the elastic range with a gradual drop in capacity. Despite its low compressive strength, cob thus presents a relatively good performance within the earthen material range as far as shear behaviour is concerned. The data here reported represents a base for a further investigation on the dynamic behaviour of the three materials considered. The study was carried out within the framework of the project NIKER funded by the European Commission dealing with improving immovable Cultural Heritage assets against the risk of earthquakes. KW - Earthen materials KW - Compression test KW - Diagonal compression test KW - Initial shear strength PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.03.009 SN - 0950-0618 VL - 61 SP - 327 EP - 339 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-30550 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -