Prueba de Tension para Bloques Comprimidos Reforzado Con Fibras
Prueba de Tension para Bloques Comprimidos Reforzado Con Fibras
Prueba de Tension para Bloques Comprimidos Reforzado Con Fibras
Abstract: Many thousands of years after its development, unburnt earth block masonry continues to offer an environmentally sustain-
able and cost-effective alternative to other conventional wall building materials, such as concrete blocks and clay fired bricks, in both
developing and developed countries. However, earth is a brittle building material with low tensile strength, and as a consequence tensile
cracks in response to external actions or restrained shrinkage are often observed. Ductility and tensile strength may be improved by adding
binders or natural fibers to the soil mixture. In this technical note, initial findings of an ongoing study of the tensile characteristics of
compacted earth blocks reinforced with natural fibers is reported. The pre- and postcracking characteristics of compacted earth blocks in
direct tension were determined using a test procedure developed for this work.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲0899-1561共2004兲16:1共95兲
CE Database subject headings: Clays; Fiber reinforced materials; Tensile strength; Building materials; Blocks.
Composite Material
Sisal fibers were added to the natural soil during wet mixing. A
total mass of fibers equivalent to 0.5% of initial soil dry weight Fig. 1. Test specimen
was used throughout this study 共irrespective of fiber length兲. This
quantity of fibers is sufficiently small that methodologies used on
raw soil, such as the standard Proctor compaction test, are also are not at present sufficiently well understood to allow reliable
applicable for the fiber-reinforced soil 共Mesbah et al. 1999; Morel replication of tapered specimens.
et al. 2000兲. During preparation of the material, the soil moisture Therefore, given the difficulties outlined in testing cylinders
content is initially brought up to its optimum value, established by and manufacturing representative nonprismatic specimens, it was
Proctor testing to achieve maximum dry density, in the mixer. The decided to test standard blocks produced by a press. To overcome
sisal fibers are then added slowly by hand and mixing is contin- problems of anchorage failure, the block was sawed along a sec-
ued to ensure a uniform distribution of the fibers throughout the tion at midheight to create a weakened cross section, where the
soil matrix; care is required to avoid aggregation of the fibers crack is expected to form 共Fig. 1兲. During load application, move-
within the matrix. ment of the ram was measured to provide displacement of the
crack. Using the simplifying assumption that the tensile stress is
uniformly distributed along the crack plane at failure, the applied
Development of Direct Tensile Test tensile stress is just given by the applied tensile force divided by
the cross-sectional area along the crack plane.
It is well established that direct tensile strength testing of materi- There are, of course, problems with the preceding approach for
als such as rock, concrete, masonry, and soil are difficult to per- measuring precracking behavior. By cutting the block, the tensile
form due to problems associated with specimen anchorage. Con- stress is no longer uniform throughout the specimen, introducing
sequently, indirect alternatives, such as the bending or modulus of significant stress concentrations that are likely to propagate early
rupture test and the Brazilian test, are more commonly used cracking. Secondly, the process of saw-cutting blocks may intro-
共Atassi 1997兲. The Brazilian test has been used previously to test duce microcracking along the test plane, further reducing the ten-
compacted earth blocks 共Olivier et al. 1997兲, though for the more sile strength of the earth section. Opposite ends of the test block
ductile fiber-reinforced earth blocks it is not considered suitable, are unlikely to be perfectly parallel and may also be distorted as
as the test conditions are heterogeneous and postcracking load is the moist earth shrinks when the blocks are sun-dried. Conse-
not readily controlled 共Rocco et al. 1999兲. quently, significant levels of tensile stress may be introduced
Initially, a direct tensile test, similar to that developed by along the test plane as the blocks are fixed into the testing appa-
Atassi for fiber-reinforced concrete, was used 共Atassi 1997兲. Each ratus. To overcome this problem, blocks were carefully, not ran-
end of the cylindrical earth specimen was glued directly onto domly, selected for the tensile strength testing. Despite these
opposing platens of the tensile test apparatus. However, this test problems for precracking response, the adopted test procedure is
was often unsuccessful, as the glued connection developed insuf- considered valid for measuring postcracking behavior of fiber-
ficient strength to allow tensile failure of the earth specimen. Ta- reinforced specimens, the main objective of this investigation.
pered specimens might be used to overcome this problem 共Ziegler
et al. 1998兲; however, it is very difficult to compress material in a
tapered form that also remains representative of compacted earth Experimental Results
blocks produced using a given block press. The structure of the
finished block is dependent on friction along the mold sides, com- The adopted block size was 100⫻140⫻295 mm. The width and
pactive effort, and speed 共static or dynamic兲. These parameters depth of the cut notch were 6 and 25 mm, respectively. This notch
size was determined to ensure tensile failure along that cross sec-
tion while also ensuring minimum intervention and disturbance to
Table 2. Typical Mechanical Properties of Sisal Fibers 关from the specimens. Notch shape was dictated by the available method
Ghavami et al. 共1999兲兴 of cutting, using a diamond saw blade, selected to minimize the
Young modulus Unit dry weight risk of damage. After cutting and prior to testing, each specimen
Strain failure 共N/mm2兲 共kN/m3兲 was dried in a ventilated oven at 35°C until a constant mass was
attained. The rate of tensile displacement during testing was con-
0.056 11,800 9.4
stant throughout at 0.002 mm/s.