Revisiting vernacular technique: Engineering a low environmental impact earth stabilisation method

The major drawbacks of earth as a construction material — such as its low water stability and moderate strength — have led mankind to stabilize earth. Different civilizations developed vernacular techniques mainly focussing on lime, pozzolan or gypsum stabilization. Recently, cement has become the most commonly used additive in earth stabilization as it improves the strength and durability of plain earth. Also, it is a familiar and globally available construction material. However, using cement as an additive reduces the environmental advantages of earth and run counter to global targets regarding the reduction of CO2 emissions. Alternatives to cement stabilization are currently neither efficient enough to reduce its environmental impact nor allow the possibility of obtaining better results than those of cement. As such, this thesis deals with the rediscovery of a reverse engineering approach for a low environmental impact earth stabilization technique, aiming to replace cement in earth stabilization. The first step in the method consists in a comprehensive review of earth stabilization with regards to earthen building standards and soil classification, which allows us to identify the research gap. The review showed that there is great potential in using other additives which result in similar improvements as those achieved by cement. However, the studies that have been conducted so far either use expansive soils, which are not suitable for earth constructions or artificial pozzolans that indirectly contribute to CO2 emissions. This is the main research gap. The key concept for the development in the second step of the method is to combine vernacular additives to both improve the strength and durability of plain earth and to reduce the CO2 emissions. Various earth-mixtures were prepared and both development and performance tests were done to investigate the performance of this technique. The laboratory analyses on mix-design have proven a high durability and the results show a remarkable increase in strength performance. Furthermore, a significant reduction in CO2 emissions in comparison to cement stabilization could be shown. The third step of the method discusses the results drawn from the experimental programme. In addition, the potential of the new earth mixture with regards to its usability in the field of building construction and architectural design is further elaborated on. The method used in this study is the first of its kind that allows investors to avoid the very time-consuming processes such as finding a suitable source for soil excavation and soil classification. The developed mixture has significant workability and suitability for production of stabilized earthen panels — the very first of its kind. Such a panel is practically feasible, reasonable, and could be integrated into earthen building standards in general and in particular to DIN 18948, which is related to earthen boards and published in 2018