Mechanical behaviour of novel 'earth concrete' walls

This paper presents outcomes of an experimental campaign focused on investigating the mechanical behaviour of a novel 'earth concrete' made of 'raw earth' which is quarry waste from washing aggregates at Luong Son Quarry (Vietnam). At a material scale, it was found that when the 'raw earth' content varies from 10% to 20% and a low cement content of 4%-8% used, the strength of the 'earth concrete' ranges from 8 MPa to18 MPa in compression and 1 MPa to 2.5 MPa in splitting tensile strength. In addition, increasing the content of 'raw earth', reduces the workability of the 'earth concrete' but increases its strength. However, it seems that there is a limit of strength which corresponds to the case where the compaction of aggregate mixture is optimal. At structure scale, four walls with dimensions (1,250 mm x 1,160 mm x 300 mm) were constructed using 'earth concrete' and subjected to in-plane and out-of-plane loading.