Determining mechanical characteristics in compressed earth blocks

In order to reduce construction costs and the energy consumed in heating and cooling, the use of laterite and cement are the essential element to install stabilized earth blocks. For this work, the main purpose is to study the effect of the use of bricks of raw earth stabilized with the help of cement. Its objective is to assess the evolution over time of mechanical resistance to the compression and traction of these bricks as well as the speed of water absorption. The mass dosages used for cement are: 25%, 20%, 15%, 10% and 00%. All bricks were tested for compression, traction and permeability testing at 14 days. The results obtained show that the dosage at 25% cement is optimal; it gives compression resistance of 5.84 MPa and 0.99 MPa in 14-day traction for soils collected from Site 2 at a depth of 0.7 m. However, the demands of the bricks to the traction give lower values compared to those obtained in com pressure for all soils. On the other hand, the presence of cement has a positive effect on the mechanical behaviour of the composite material.