Mbaye Wade^1,, Macodou Thiam², Makhaly Ba¹, Mapathé Ndiaye¹

More than a third of the world's population now lives in earthen dwellings which have many environmental, social and cultural advantages. In Senegal, compressed earth blocks (CEBs), using laterite as the base material, are by far the most widely used technique. Indeed, lateritic gravel borrowings are relatively well distributed throughout the national territory. But blocks made with laterite are often stabilized with a good dose of cement. This study aims to verify whether the stabilization of CEBs made with Sindia laterite is necessary and to see the influence of the incorporation of 10% sand on the mechanical resistance to compression and traction of the blocks. Several dosages of cement (6%, 8% and 10%) are used, and the blocks are 28 days old. During this period, they are wrapped in plastic film to preserve their water content. Resistance measurements were carried out by crushing the blocks with a press with a capacity of 1500 kN for compression and 50 kN for traction. The results show that with 10% sand, the compressive and tensile strengths of the blocks are improved: the compressive strength increases from 2.08MPa to 2.29 MPa with 6% cement, from 3.08 MPa to 3.33 MPa with 8% cement and from 4.36 MPa to 4.62 MPa with 10% cement; the tensile strength by splitting increases from 0.12 MPa to 0.16 MPa with 6% cement, from 0.19 MPa to 0.25 MPa with 8% cement and from 0.28 MPa to 0.33 MPa with 10% cement. Thus, sand can reduce the amount of cement used for the stabilization of BTC based on Sindia laterite and thus reduce the carbon impact of these blocks.

Compressed earth block, laterite, cement, compressive strength, tensile strength