Effect of gravel size on strength of mud concrete

Abstract

Rapid development of the world has resulted in many problems in the construction industry as well as to the environment. Because of the rapid development, resources have become limited and thereby the cost of existing resources has increased. This has greatly affected to construction industries in developing countries, especially for small-scale construction work such as houses. Also, high usage of resources in the construction industry has led to many environmental impacts. As a result, of that sustainable materials have become popular in the world. Soil can be considered as such a sustainable material. At present, many building materials have been developed based on the soil. Mud-Concrete is such a soil based novel product, which has been developed at the University of Moratuwa. Mud-Concrete can be used in different forms in building construction. First attempt was to develop mud concrete as 300mm (length) x 150mm (width) x 150mm (height) load bearing block. The second attempt is to develop in situ cast load bearing panels for wall construction. In this research, the effect of gravel size(particle size >4.75mm) on the compressive strength of mud concrete panels was checked by casting 150 x 150 x 150 mm Mud-Concrete cube for different gravel size ranges. In this experiment, both dry and wet compressive strength were checked. According to the results obtained from the experiment, 4.75mm – 30 mm gravel size range gives maximum dry and wet compressive strength for mud concrete panels.