Physical, Mechanical and Hygroscopic Behaviour of Compressed Earth Blocks Stabilized with Cement and Reinforced with Bamboo Fibres

This paper describes the physical, mechanical, and hygroscopic behaviour of compressed earth bricks (CEB) reinforced with fibres of Bambusa vulgaris. Three fibre contents (0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 wt.%) and lengths of fibre (4, 5 and 6 cm) were considered as reinforcement for the compressed earth blocks based on cement stabilisation with 8.0% of the weight of the mixture. CEB composites were compacted with a static loading by applying a compacting stress of 15 MPa. Results show that the appropriate addition of Bamboo fibres can improve mechanical properties of CEBs. In particular, the compressive strength increases by 43.6%, at an optimum fibre content of 0.5 wt.% and at a length of 4 cm. The compressive strength also increases of 24.6% and 25.6% for a fibre content of 0.75 wt.% at 4 cm long and for 0.5 wt.% at 5 cm long respectively. The flexural strength also increases with increase in fibre content and length of fibre. The highest value of flexural strength is obtained with CEB containing 1.0 wt.% of fibre content while the lowest value is obtained with blocks without reinforcement. For the water absorption, there is an increase by 18.4, 25.1 and 27.6% when the fibre content increases by 0 to 1.0 wt.% for fibres length of 4, 5 and 6 cm long, respectively. However, as the fibre content and length increase, the density decreases, and the porosity and water absorption increase due to their porous character and hydrophilic.