Bond behaviour of bamboo splints in cement-stabilised rammed earth blocks

Abstract

This paper represents an effort to study the bond characteristics of plain and noded bamboo splints embedded in cement-stabilised rammed earth (CSRE) blocks. A series of CSRE pullout test specimens and two species of bamboo, namely Melocanna Baccifera and Bambusa Balcooa having an average tensile strength of 384 and 310 MPa, respectively, were fabricated using 4–10% Portland cement. These bamboo species are commonly available and widely used for construction in the north-eastern part of India. Besides considering the effects of soil strength, cement content, splint size and type on bond force and slip, the effect of embedded area was also briefly considered as part of the test programme. The test result showed that pullout bond resistance is correlated to rammed earth compressive strength, splint size and type, and embedded area.

Keywords::

• rammed earth
• bamboo splints
• pullout
• stabilised blocks
• bond stress

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge all the laboratory staff of Civil Engineering Department for their kind cooperation and necessary help in carrying out this work reported in this paper. In particular, the authors would like to acknowledge Subhankar Chakma and Pinku Saha for their support.