Tarun Sharma

For centuries, homelessness has been a major issue in India. According to the 2021 census, about 1.77 million Indians are homeless. To fulfil these needs, compr

Unburnt earth blocks have emerged as a viable and eco-friendly substitute for traditional fired clay bricks, demonstrating important benefits to the environment

Compressed stabilized earth blocks (CSEBs) offer a cheaper and environmentally sustainable alternative to traditional building materials for construction. In addition to addressing waste disposal difficulties, the inclusion of waste additives may improve the characteristics of compressed earth blocks (CEBs). This article attempts to outline the findings of researchers who have utilized the various manufacturing processes and investigated the influence of binders and fibers on the properties of CEBs. A systematic search of Web of Science and Scopus electronic databases for works on soil blocks published between 2012 and 2022 yielded 445 articles, while reports, case studies, conference papers, and non-English articles were omitted. Keywords such as “Soil blocks”, “Earth bricks”, and others were used to identify eligible studies. This study has been segmented into five sections, including a descriptive examination of articles and authors who have investigated soil blocks, a comparative analysis based on their manufacturing processes, and physical, mechanical, and durability aspects of the CSEBs, which were analyzed to determine the impact of additives. The PRISMA 2020 standards were followed in the evaluation of each record, which resulted in the identification of 61 articles that were pertinent to the study’s objective. The comparative analysis of the articles reveals that the binders were more significant in improving the compressive strength, cyclic wetting-drying and erosion (durability) aspects of the soil blocks, while fibers were effective in enhancing their flexural and thermal performance. The literature review indicates that if the minimum permissible limits are met, waste materials have the potential to partially replace the soil. In addition, this study suggests establishing standardized manufacturing norms and testing protocols to ascertain the quality and safety of CSEBs used in construction. However, this study is constrained by the limited databases used, governed by keywords, electronic resources and timeframe that could be used as research avenues in the future.

The soil properties play crucial role for foundation of building to be stable and strong. So, researcher or engineer should have thorough knowledge about the factors affecting behaviour of soil. The practice of modifying a soil in order to preserve, alter, or increase its performance as a road construction material is known as soil stabilisation. This study investigates the relation between the number of blows imparted to soil and its compaction characteristics. The standard value of number of blows given to each layer in standard proctor compaction test and modified proctor compaction test is 25 blows and 56 blows respectively. This study aims to investigate the effect of different compaction energy levels or different number of blows on the compaction properties of soil and hence to find the optimum number of blows at which soil attains the maximum dry density. The standard proctor compaction test was conducted on the soil sample at 20, 25 and 30 number of blows where as modified proctor compaction test was performed at 50, 56 and 60 number of blows.

Unfired admixed soil blocks are made up of soil plus stabilizers such as binders, fibers, or a combination of both. Soil is abundant on Earth, and it has been used to provide shelter to millions of people. The manufacturing and usage of cement and cement blocks raise several environmental and economic challenges. Due to disposal issues, agricultural and industrial waste is currently the biggest hazard to the environment and humanity in the world. Consequently, environmental degradation brought on by agricultural waste harms the ecology. As a result, researchers are attempting to develop an alternative to cement blocks, and various tests on unfired admixed soil blocks have been done. This investigation uses agricultural waste (i.e., paddy straw fiber and sugarcane bagasse ash) and industrial waste (i.e., marble dust) in manufacturing unfired admixed soil blocks. Under this investigation, the applicability of unfired soil blocks admixed with marble dust, paddy straw fiber, and bagasse ash was studied. The marble dust level ranged from 25% to 35%, bagasse ash content ranged from 7.5% to 12.5%, and the content of paddy straw fiber ranged from 0.8% to 1.2% by soil dry weight. Various tests were conducted on the 81 mix designs of the prepared unfired admixed soil blocks to find out the physical properties of the block followed by modeling and optimization. The findings demonstrate that the suggested method is a superior alternative to burned bricks for improving the physical properties of admixed soil blocks without firing.

Earthen materials are the world’s oldest and cheapest construction materials. Compacted soil stabilised blocks are unfired admixed soil blocks made up of soil plus stabilisers such as binders, fibres, or a combination of both. The manufacturing and usage of cement and cement blocks raises a number of environmental and economic challenges. As a result, researchers are attempting to develop an alternative to cement blocks, and various tests on unfired admixed soil blocks have been performed. This investigation undertakes use of agricultural waste (i.e., paddy straw fiber and sugarcane bagasse ash) and industrial waste (i.e., marble dust) in manufacturing unfired admixed soil blocks. The applicability of unfired soil blocks admixed with marble dust, paddy straw fiber, and bagasse ash were studied. The marble dust level ranged from 25% to 35%, the bagasse ash content ranged from 7.5% to 12.5%, and the content of paddy straw fibre ranged from 0.8% to 1.2% by soil dry weight. Various tests were conducted on 81 mix designs of the prepared unfired admixed soil blocks to determine the mechanical properties of the blocks, followed by modeling and optimization. The characterization of the materials using XRD and XRF and of the specimens using SEM and EDS were performed for the mineral constituents and microstructural analysis. The findings demonstrate that the suggested method is a superior alternative to burned bricks for improving the mechanical properties of unfired admixed soil blocks.

The problem of pollution is on daily rise and environment protection is becoming challengeable task due to production of fired bricks and improper disposal of waste materials. This experimental investigation is conducted on unfired compacted soil block stabilized with waste materials. The waste materials utilized in this investigation were paddy straw fiber, sugarcane bagasse ash and marble dust because of their improper disposal and burning of paddy straw is one of them. Marble dust was put on at distinct percentages in the span of 25% to 35%, bagasse ash and paddy straw fibers (75mm length) were also added in varied %age. Experiments were conducted on the blocks to determine the compaction properties and compressive strength of the blocks. The outcome of this experimentation determined that the light weight unfired admixed soil block is achievable with optimum amount of waste materials. Also, inclusion of marble dust in soil block admixed with bagasse ash and paddy straw fiber increases the compressive strength.

The world is facing pollution crises and these cries are due to improper disposal of waste material. This materials are Rice husk ash, bagasseash, waste marble powder, remanings of grains like rice starw and many more. Some of the waste materials can easily be disposable in the construction industry by using them in the concrete or in any other construction material. This paper deals with this waste material to be utilized in the compressed earth blocks. To study the mechanical properties of compressed soil blocks prepared by a combination of various ratios of Marble powder, paddy Straw Fiber and Sugarcane bagasse ash, the compression test, and water absorption test was performed. The marble powder is introduced in the manner to replace soil by 25%, 35%% and 45 %. Paddy Starws fibers are introducedby the replacement percentage of.6%,.8%and 1% whereas the bagasse ash is been introduced in the manner of 8%,10% and 12%This various test shows that the Marble powder Waste increase dry density which helps in increasing the compression Capacity of the brick. Whereas Paddy Straw fiber and bagasse ash decrease the dry density of brick which results in decreasingthe optimum water content of the mixof the brick. Bagasse ash and paddy straw fiber increase the water absorption capacity of the brick.

In order for the foundation of building to be strong, the soil around it plays a critical role. So, researcher or engineer should have thorough knowledge about the factors affecting behaviour of soil which can be altered by the process of soil stabilisation. This study aims to investigate the applicability of SCBA (Sugarcane Bagasse Ash) to stabilize the clayey soil. Sugar factories produce waste after extraction of sugarcane gets brunt and the ash, hence produced is known as bagasse ash. Soil is treated with partial replacement of cement (3%, 6%, 9% and 12%) and with bagasse ash (2%, 4%, 6%and 8%). A total of 45 specimens were prepared in this study. Later those test specimens were evaluated for compaction properties. The results found after thorough study was that there was increase in the compaction properties with percentage increase in Sugarcane Bagasse Ash up to certain limit.