Mechanical characterisation of traditional adobes from the north of Spain

• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.02.003
• Publication Date: 2011-03-07T22:27:58Z
• Authors: Paula Vega; Andrés Juan; M. Ignacio Guerra; Julia Mª Morán; Pedro J. Aguado; Bernardo Llamas
• Keywords: Adobe; Shrinkage

Abstract Mud is one of humankind’s oldest construction materials. The paper presents a technical study of straw-stabilized adobe, prepared in the traditional manner using wooden frames and compacting the mixture manually. The mud is selected from a specific area in the province of Leon (Spain) where adobes had been employed traditionally from long years ago using two different proportions of straw: 25% and 33% of total volume. The laboratory tests have followed the standard EN protocols. The different tests developed were of two types: for the natural soil granulometric analysis, relative density and Atterberg limits were made; for the adobes the following were done: shrinkage during drying, density, compressive and flexural strength. Results show an average compressive strength of 3.8 N/mm 2 and an average flexural strength of 0.68 N/mm 2 , so it can be stated that traditional adobes can be used as an adequate construction material.