TY - JOUR A1 - Wiehle, Philipp A1 - Baier, Johanna A1 - Thiele, Marc T1 - Structural Design of Earth Masonry in Accordance with Eurocode 6 – Considering Moisture Content and E/fk Ratio N2 - The load‐bearing behaviour of earth masonry is similar to conventional masonry, with two key differences: compressive strength and Young's modulus are dependent on moisture content, and the ratio between Young's modulus and characteristic compressive strength (E/fk) is significantly lower. The current design concept according to the Lehmbau Regeln does not explicitly address these factors, relying instead on a general safety margin, leading to an underestimation of the load‐bearing capacity of modern earth masonry.Compression tests on small‐scale masonry specimens and storey‐high walls revealed that compressive strength and Young's modulus decrease inversely proportional to the increase in relative humidity. Additionally, it was found that conventional masonry design guidelines overestimate the buckling resistance of earth masonry due to its low E/fk ratio of ∼440. However, this ratio remains independent of moisture content, simplifying structural design, as the load‐bearing capacity is only influenced by wall slenderness.The study's findings form the foundation for the newly published German design standard DIN 18940, which explicitly considers moisture content through service classes with moisture factors and addresses the low E/fk ratio with a bilinear adaptation of the reduction factor considering the slenderness. Along with the introduction of the semi‐probabilistic design concept and rigid‐plastic determination of cross‐sectional load‐bearing capacity, modern earth masonry can now be applied in buildings up to four storeys. T2 - Earth Builder Summit CY - Biberach, Germany DA - 06.03.2025 KW - Service class KW - Earth masonry KW - Structural design KW - Moisture PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-637803 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/cepa.3287 SN - 2509-7075 VL - 8 IS - 1 SP - 9 EP - 21 PB - Ernst & Sohn GmbH AN - OPUS4-63780 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Brinkmann, M. A1 - Wiehle, Philipp T1 - Correlation between relative humidity and the strength and deformation characteristics of unstabilised earth masonry N2 - The mechanical properties of unstabilised earthen building materials are distinctively influenced by changes in material moisture content. However, this moisture-dependency often remains unconsidered in the calculation of the load-bearing capacity of earth constructions. This paper aims to derive a convenient way to sufficiently consider the impact of different material moisture contents on the mechanical properties of unstabilised earth masonry. Therefore, the influence of relative humidity and temperature on the strength and deformation characteristics of unstabilised earth blocks, earth mortar and earth masonry is evaluated by conducting compression tests under various climate conditions. The results show that the compressive strength and the modulus of elasticity are linearly correlated with the relative humidity, whereas changes in temperature at constant relative humidity have no significant influence. To account the distinct moisture-dependency, a general applicable modification factor for unstabilised earthen materials is provided, which enables the adjustment of the compressive strength and the modulus of elasticity in dependency of arbitrary hygroscopic material moisture contents. KW - Earth masonry KW - Earth blocks KW - Relative humidity KW - Modulus of elasticity KW - Moisture KW - Compressive strength KW - Stress–strain-relation PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2022.130048 SN - 0950-0618 VL - 366 IS - 22 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier BV AN - OPUS4-56732 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wiehle, Philipp A1 - Simon, Sebastian A1 - Baier, J. A1 - Dennin, L. ED - Forde, M. T1 - Influence of relative humidity on the strength and stiffness of unstabilised earth blocks and earth masonry mortar N2 - Aim of this study is to provide information about moisture dependent material behaviour of unstabilised loadbearing earth blocks and mortars. Compressive strength and Young’s modulus were investigated after conditioning in varying relative humidity reaching from 40 % up to 95 %. The material composition and physical properties were investigated to understand the influence of relative humidity onto the mechanical properties. A normalisation of strength and stiffness by the values obtained at 23 ◦C and 50 % relative humidity reveals a linear dependence of compressive strength and Young’s modulus that is regardless of the material composition. Thus, it is possible to describe the influence of relative humidity onto the load-bearing behaviour of unstabilised earth masonry materials in a generally valid formulation. KW - Earth block masonry KW - Load-bearing behaviour KW - Compressive strength KW - Moisture content KW - Sorption isotherm PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2022.128026 SN - 0950-0618 VL - 342 IS - Part A SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-54949 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wiehle, Philipp A1 - Brinkmann, M. T1 - Material behaviour of unstabilised earth block masonry and its components under compression at varying relative humidity N2 - block and mortar types is analysed with particular regard to the influence of varying relative humidity. The uniaxial compressive strength and deformation characteristics of unstabilised earth blocks and mortars as well as of unstabilised earth block masonry are studied in detail and compared to conventional masonry to evaluate whether the structural design can be made accordingly. An increase of 30 % points in relative humidity leads to a reduction of the masonry´s compressive strength between 33 % and 35 % whereas the Young´s modulus is reduced by 24–29 %. However, the ratio between the Young´s modulus and the characteristic compressive strength of earth block masonry ranges between E33/fk = 283–583 but is largely independent of the relative humidity. The results show that the mechanical properties of the investigated unstabilised earth block masonry are sufficient for load-bearing structures, yielding a masonry compressive strength between 2.3 MPa and 3.7 MPa throughout the range of moisture contents investigated. In general, the design concept of conventional masonry can be adapted for unstabilised earth masonry provided that the rather low Young´s modulus as well as the moisture dependence of both, compressive strength and Young´s modulus, are sufficiently taken into account. KW - Compressive strength KW - Earth block masonry KW - Compression tests KW - Stress-strain relation KW - Relative humidity KW - Moisture content PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-562417 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2022.e01663 SN - 2214-5095 VL - 17 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Elsevier B.V. CY - Netherlands AN - OPUS4-56241 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -