Glass fiber reinforced rammed earth stabilized with cement and bagasse ash: empirical relationship between tensile and compressive strength – Part A

Rammed earth (RE), an ancient construction technique, is a sustainable technology that consumes less energy and is eco-friendly. RE is brittle in nature and fails because of the increase in flexural stresses. Mechanical properties such as strength in compression and tension should be enhanced to reduce brittleness and tensile failure. This study focuses on exploring the relationship between the compressive and tensile strengths of glass fiber-reinforced, bagasse ash (BA)-cement stabilized RE. The experimental investigation lays emphasis on the effect of glass fiber on RE along with BA. The strength in compression of the cement stabilised RE increased by 31% when 0.4% glass fiber of length 12 mm was added, and it further increased by 40% by the addition of 2% BA. Peak strain at peak compressive strength enhanced by 35% with the incorporation of fibers, enhancing ductility while reducing brittleness of RE. The SEM image justifies the addition of BA; it can be observed that the addition led to the reduction of voids, resulting in an increase in the compactness of soil particles in the RE. From the study, it is observed that the regression models that best fit the data were studied and a power regression model gives the goodness of fit and to be used to find the relationship between tensile and compressive strength. The error analysis in comparison to past research suggests a way to consider mix variations to develop regression equations for higher correlation considering different types of fibers.