Author

C. JAYASINGHE (1), T.S PATHIRAGE (2), C. KARIYAPPERUMA (2), K.R.T.I PERERA (2)

(1) Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

(2) Research Student, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Compressed Stabilized Earth (CSE) has gained popularity in many countries with warm humid tropical climatic conditions due to the availability of “lateritic” soil that can be stabilized with cement. The dimensional accuracy of walls that is guaranteed from using steel moulds generally enables the completion of aesthetically pleasing walls without any plaster, so minimizing the number of site operations. Since thick external walls are common, the height to width ratio of blocks may not satisfy the limit specified as 0.6 in Table 2 of BS 5628: part 1: 1992. The detailed experimental study covered in this paper has indicated that height to width ratios between 0.45 to 0.6 behave in a similar manner in compression and hence can be used for selecting the dimensions for manufacturing CSE solid blocks.

Key words
CSE blocks, compressive strength, height to width ratio