Download Sustainability and stabilised earth materials for structural

Sustainability and stabilised earth materials for structural applications
Abstract
Global per capita consumption of construction materials is about 3.5 tonnes per year. Cement,
steel, aggregates, bricks, glass, aluminium, etc. represent bulk of these materials. Energy and
material resources are the basic essentials for the construction sector. Mined raw materials are
converted to construction products and then assembled to produce buildings and other
infrastructure. Consumption of energy causes pollution while mining of materials causes
irreparable damage to the environment. Construction sector is surviving on mined materials
and hence its sustainability is questionable. The sustainable construction practices should
address two crucial issues pertaining to the consumption of raw materials and the energy
consumption. Use of natural materials or the materials made with minimum alterations to
natural materials, can result in lower emissions as well as reduce stress on the environment.
Such materials can be termed as zero or low embodied carbon construction materials. Soil
based materials (without much processing) have been extensively used for the construction in
the past and currently large chunk of the population still lives in earthen houses. There are
attempts to improve the structural characteristics of earthen materials through stabilisation
techniques. The presentation will focus on the R&D work pertaining to stabilised earth
materials for structural applications along with some thoughts on the sustainability of
construction sector. Magnitude of global materials consumption in the construction industry,
embodied energy in buildings and some ideas on meeting the demand for raw materials in the
construction industry will be discussed. Structural characteristics of stabilised soil blocks and
rammed earth for the building construction along with examples and case studies of buildings
will form the main focus of the presentation.