Experimental Strength of Earth-Based Construction Materials in Different Regions of China

Abstract EN

According to the latest UN statistics, more than 2 billion people in the world still live in various forms of earthen buildings, including some in China.

The variety of earth-based constructional materials is significant among different regions, with each region influencing the selection of local earth construction materials.

In this study, earth materials from four regions of China were collected and sorted, with 10 samples from each source, and cube compressive strength tests were performed to analyze the composition and mechanical properties of the four materials, including northeast black earth, southeast red earth, northwest loess, and Xinjiang yellow sand earth.

The results showed that significant differences existed in the composition of earth-based constructional materials from different regions, which have influence on the materials’ compressive strength.

The order from large to small of compressive strengths was loess, black earth, yellow sandy earth, and red earth.

Material load-displacement curves were influenced significantly by the plasticity index, but the overall failure processes of the various samples were basically the same.