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- Rammed earth (4) (entfernen)
Both in developed and developing countries, modern building materials tend to be preferred to traditional earthen construction. Reasons include low durability, inadequate performance under seismic loading and, in developing countries, a wish to replace what is perceived as 'poor' with what is perceived as 'rich'. In an age when building permissions and construction standards are a must, particularly in seismic areas, even when an owner is willing to build in earth, construction approval needs to be granted: we rely on values and standards to build, but the necessary data on material properties and structural performance of earthen building techniques is scarce if compared to the abundance of data for other materials (clay brick masonry, concrete, steel) available to the engineer. At the same time, traditional builders' skills, knowledge and confidence in earthen building techniques are decreasing if not disappearing. A wallette testing campaign was thus carried out with the aim of filling this knowledge gap. Prior to the wallette campaign, material properties, including composition and physical-mechanical parameters, were determined. Compression and diagonal compression (shear) tests were then performed, and a basic analysis of the mechanical behaviour of structural elements built in cob is provided in relation to earth block (adobe) masonry and rammed earth elements. Cob, shown to have low compressive resistance, has a relatively ductile post-peak behaviour if compared to earth block masonry specimens which, as expected, show a marked brittle behaviour. In terms of shear strength, cob performs relatively well in view of its low compressive strength. The study is part of our work within the framework of the ongoing project NIKER funded by the European Commission dealing with improving the structural performance of Cultural Heritage assets in order to limit earthquake hazards.
The paper presents a comparison between two different numerical modelling approaches aimed to simulate the in-plain behaviour of rammed earth walls, namely under axial, diagonal and cyclic shearcompression loading. In the first part of the study the mechanical characterisation of wallets tested under uniaxial compression and diagonal compression and walls tested under in-plane cyclic shear-compression loading is presented. The results were used to implement and validate the finite element simulations.
The numerical modelling of the rammed earth samples tested is then discussed in the second part. A non-linear constitutive law based on the total strain rotating crack model (TSRCM) was employed as implemented in the DIANA® software. The aim of the numerical analyses presented here is to simulate the behaviour of rammed earth under different inplane loading conditions. For the wallets, tests under static loading both macro- and micro-modelling
approaches were considered for the simulation of the experimental tests. For the walls subjected to cyclic loading only the micro-modelling approach was applied for the simulation of the experimental tests.
The respective FEM model was calibrated with the experimental results. The rammed earth layers were represented by continuum elements, the contact surfaces between layers by interface elements. This approach allowed assessing the influence of the apparent weakness of the interfaces between layers on the shear behaviour of rammed earth.
The goal of the numerical simulation of the cyclic tests was to establish the adequacy of common analytical methods (e. g. used for masonry) applied to the analysis of rammed earth. Rammed earth exhibits brittle characteristics similar to masonry materials and is used in geometrical typologies, such as walls, common in masonry construction.
An experimental investigation was carried out to study the in-plane shear behaviour of rammed earth structural elements strengthened with polyester fabric strips. The original idea for the retrofitting with polyester fabric strips was to introduce a vertical element for walls in order to take up horizontal loads resulting in a shear response of the building element. It has to be considered that vertical slits into the walls for fixing the strips are points of weakness and have to be mitigated by the adhesive. In this case a base coat mortar was employed. Strengthened elements were tested to exploit the strength potential of earthen materials and to solve its lack of tensile strength, significantly improving not only strength but also ductility. As part of the study results of a testing campaign of unstrengthened structural elements were considered. Strengthened elements were tested in diagonal compression/shear and cyclic shear-compression. A unique reinforcement orientation was used. The results of these tests are presented in this paper and include the load-displacement behaviours, crack patterns, failure modes. The results showed that the reinforcement was the most effective under cyclic shear-compression tests, with increase in load and displacement capacity observed. Under diagonal compression the reinforcement did not likely contribute significantly to the shear resistance, due to a lack of embedment length of the strips.