Compressed Stabilised Earth Brick strength development

Abstract

Mudbricks have been used in shelter construction for decades and are from a mixture of clayed material and water sometimes mixed with other binders with pozzolanic properties. Over 30% of the world's populace live in earthen structures, which is substantial though faced with strength and durability challenges especially. To salvage these challenges, an understudy was carried out to identify the local stabilization techniques adopted in some selected local government areas and how best to improve the practice while considering global standards. This study explores additional strength stabilizers (cement) in the existing local practice and comparatively analyses the strength and other vital behaviors between Stabilized Earth Brick (SEB) and Compressed Stabilized Earth Brick (CSEB). The CSEB’s strength properties reveal that the location with higher clay content, where the sand was not added fails to yield the desired result while the location with sand stabilization shows otherwise. Similarly, Jere soil with 12.2% clay content higher than the upper clay threshold fails the Nigerian building code requirement but the lateritic soil satisfactorily performs much better with the 5% cement stabilization, and this led to sand stabilization index development for soil with clay content above the recommended threshold.