Compressive Test

Publicerad den mars 11, 2013december 22, 2013 Publicerat i UncategorizedMärkt earth architecture, local materials, natural building, natural materials, rammed earthLämna en kommentar

Hej! We had a long break but we are back. I made laboratory tests at the GeoLab at Chalmers University of Technology. First I made sedimentation tests, and then I selected a soil suitable to ram, it was amazing to achieve a compressive strength of 1.8 N/mm2, is still low I know, but is not so far from the strength required in rammed earth buildings, around 2-4 N/mm2. Lets remember that the soil was not modified from its original state, no aggregates were added for this experiments. Interesting!

-David

Rammed Earth Sample – Video

Publicerad den december 7, 2012december 22, 2013 Publicerat i UncategorizedMärkt earth architecture, local materials, natural building, natural materials, rammed earthLämna en kommentar

Hej igen! EarthLab finally found some clay near Chalmers, so we filled up some buckets and started with the process of ramming earth! The soil is not modified from its natural condition in this example. There are many ways of doing these tests, better ways for sure; but this is for EarthLab a good opportunity to have fun and understand the material. What we used is a carton board as a mould, the first times Shea almost broke the mould because of the force when ramming, in the future we will experiment with ABS pipes or stronger materials. So here is a short video of the process, hope you enjoy it and leave some comments!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzalgvAKc8A&feature=youtu.be

Clay hunting

Publicerad den november 28, 2012oktober 25, 2013 Publicerat i UncategorizedLämna en kommentar

Shea and David took a trip to Sjövik, just North of Göteorg, on a rainy day in search of some clay. David has been working with Sister Inger from Klaradals Kloster, who would like to build a small house on their property. The plan is to build a rammed earth structure. So, we started digging to see what type of soil was on site. Unfortunately, the water table was high and we couldn’t get down to the ‘good stuff’ clay. We came away with some soil samples, which we will test, and a better understanding of what it may take to build with earth in Sweden. The hunt continues for clay, so we can really start getting our hands dirty. More to come soon!