ADDIS COLLEGE

Rammed Earth
APPROPRIATE BUILDING TECHNOLOGY

COURSE MANAGER __MICKYAS

PRPERD BY
MICHEAL ABEBE

2010E.C /2018 G.C

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 Housing is one of the three basic human needs.

 different building styles and innovation techniques and variety of building materials.
 In our country Ethiopia, house agency with multiple payment programs, like 10/90,
20/80 and 40/60.
 number of housing unit harvested from the above program is highly unproportional.
In addition to that the cost of construction materials, the lack of skilled labors and in
general the current economic inflation makes the construction process challengeable.
 In order to came up with a viable solution for this problem, this paper/research tries to
develop an alternative building material scheme using by of the oldest and the
cheapest material to be used by mankind: rammed earth. Even if the material believed
to out date one, its merits still be added up on & developed. We believe it is possible
to upgrade the required strength quality and aesthetics without compromising on the
cost of the raw material.
Objective

 Easy to constrict; even without the use of skilled labors.

 Create the perspective / ideology that locally available materials are a
good alternative for construction.
 Cost efficient affordable and inclusive out put
 Ecofriendly and sustainable building approach.
 Waste-conscious building system; recyclable and reusing.
 Intro… Rammed Earth

 Rammed earth is essentially manmade sedimentary rock.

 The compaction may be done manually with a hammer-like
device
 mechanically with a lever-operated brick-making press, or
pneumatically with an air-driven tamping tool. Dynamic
compaction using manual or power tampers not only compresses
the soil, but it also vibrates the individual dirt particles, shifting
them into the most tightly packed arrangement possible.
Rammed Earth

 The Sun Pyramid if Teotihuacan

 Five floor house at Weilburg.
 Section of the great wall of china
made with rammed earth
 Rammed Earth

 This method consists on setting layers of

earth into a formwork and compact it to
increase its density and its compressive
strength and then repeat again until the top of
the structure desired.
 The density of rammed earth is the highest of
the unbaked earth constructions, that is why
this method is one of the best's of this kind.
 Rammed earth can also be stabilised with
additives such as cement to increase its
resistance, then is known as Stabilised
Rammed Earth and this method is even
better than unstabilised one.
 Rammed earth structures around the world

Mangar Hotel in India Sankofa house in Ghana

House in New Zealand

Palace in France, Dauphiné - Château, from 19th century

The process of rammed
technical approach
 1: Excavation for obtaining the soil
 2: Preparation of the mixture
 3: Insertion of the mixture on the formwork
 4: Compaction
 Rammed earth

 While 500mm thick walls can still be constructed if desired, with or without cement, most modern
rammed earth walls in Australia are built using cement as a stabilizer and are typically 300mm thick
for external walls and 300mm or 200mm for internal walls.
 The compressive strength of rammed earth is a maximum of 4.3 MPa (620 psi).
Rammed Earth
Advantages of earth rammed housing

 Rammed earth has excellent thermal qualities. It heats up

slowly during the day and releases heat during the evening
 The thickness and density of the walls lends itself naturally to
soundproofing.
 Virtually fireproof
 Economically viable
 Energy efficient
 Allows more air exchange than concrete structures, as the
materials allow the building to breath. This avoids
condensation issues without significant heat loss
 Materials are readily available and relatively cheap
 Resistant to termites.
 Can be used to build and design earthquake-resistant
buildings.
disadvantage earth rammed housing

 Not a good insulator, as rammed earth often requires insulation

in colder climates. Similar to brick and concrete
buildings.Allows more air exchange than concrete structures, as
the materials allow the building to breath. This avoids
condensation issues without significant heat loss
 Can be used in wetter climates but must be protected from
heavy rain by an overhanging roof.
Thanks So Mach !
MICHEAL ABEBE @2018