Fire behaviour of a cast poured earth concrete
Résumé
The environmental impact of hydraulic concrete has come under scrutiny in recent times. Cement production, which accounts for 10 to 15% of concrete's mass, is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Studies have shown that manufacturing a ton of cement releases between 600 to 900kg of CO2 into the atmosphere. While hydraulic concrete is indispensable for various applications, there is growing interest in exploring alternatives with lower environmental footprints, particularly for less demanding uses.
In our study, we have developed an earth concrete that can be poured and cast with the same ease as conventional hydraulic concrete. Our materials consist of clayey quarry fines, a specially formulated low carbon hydraulic binder, and 0-4 sand. The proportion of binder is adjusted to achieve a target compressive strength of 10 MPa. The carbon footprint of a wall constructed using this earth concrete is significantly reduced, at only 10 kgCO2eq/m² compared to 40 kgCO2eq/m² for conventional concrete or 12 kgCO2eq/m² for compressed earth brick wall. We have investigated the fire resistance of our earth concrete through various tests, including measuring residual strength after exposure to temperatures up to 800°C and analyzing mineralogical changes using High-Temperature XRD techniques. Our findings indicate that earth concrete exhibits improved resistance up to 600°C compared to Portland cement-based mortar. This suggests that earth concrete could offer better structural integrity in high-temperature environments. These results underscore the potential of earth concrete as a sustainable alternative to conventional concrete, particularly in applications where fire resistance is a critical factor.
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