NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF COMPRESSED EARTH BLOCK WALLS UNDER UNIAXIAL COMPRESSION: INFLUENCE OF SISAL FIBERS AND MORTAR COMPOSITION THROUGH FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION

This study presents a numerical analysis of the mechanical behavior of compressed earth block (CEB) walls under uniaxial compression, focusing on the influence of sisal fiber reinforcement in the blocks and the cement content in the mortar joints. Three wall configurations are modeled using Abaqus software: one wall composed of fiber-reinforced blocks with a mortar containing 4% cement; a second wall without fibers but using the same mortar; and a third wall without fibers, combined with a more rigid mortar containing 8% cement. The models incorporate the specific mechanical properties of the materials and the block-mortar interactions, using an elasto-plastic constitutive law coupled with progressive damage based on the concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) model. The simulations reveal that the fiber-reinforced wall achieves a maximum stress of 1.05MPa at a vertical strain of 0.19%, demonstrating a more ductile behavior. The unreinforced wall with 4% cement mortar reaches 0.92MPa at 0.16% strain, while the wall with 8% cement mortar exhibits the highest strength (1.15MPa) but fails more abruptly at a strain of 0.17%. These results highlight the potential of combining natural fiber reinforcements with moderate mortar formulations to enhance both strength and resilience in CEB structures, supporting sustainable construction practices.