Textile-reinforced rammed earth: Experimental characterisation of flexural strength and thoughness

• Flexural toughness of unreinforced and fibre grid reinforced rammed earth.
• Flexural strength of unreinforced and fibre grid reinforced rammed earth.
• Comparison of textile reinforcing systems for rammed earth.
• Grid spacing and bending stiffness: influent variables for the reinforcing.

Rammed earth is a building material that has gained attention because of its sustainable advantages. However, its negligible tensile strength and its lack of strain energy dissipation may compromise some structures. This work proposes the use of textile grids as reinforcement systems for rammed earth. An adapted methodology to assess the effect of embedding fibre grids is presented. The maximum bending moment and the flexural toughness was determined for 26 specimens by using different types of grids. It was determined that using a flexible fibre grid with large spacing between fibre tows was the most efficient option, as it duplicated the flexural strength and increased the flexural toughness by a factor of sixty.