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The mechanical performance of cordwood

Article  in  Biosystems Engineering · March 2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2010.12.006

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Research Paper

The mechanical performance of cordwood

R. Mouterde a, J.C. Morel b,*, V. Martinet b, Frédéric Sallet b

a
Laboratoire d’Analyse des Formes, ENSA Lyon, 3 rue Maurice Audin, 69512 Vaulx en Velin Cedex, France
b
Université de Lyon, Département Génie Civil et Bâtiment CNRS, FRE 3237, Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’Etat,
rue M. Audin, 69 518 Vaulx-en-Velin cedex, France

article info
Cordwood structures are used by only a few independent builders and to date the only real
Article history: technical development has existed in North America. However, cordwood structures could
Received 5 July 2010 help reduce environmental impact because cordwood has very low embodied energy and is
Received in revised form able to store carbon dioxide. The goal was to test this composite material with a new
15 December 2010 approach in order to establish if the strength of cordwood walls was sufficient to be used
Accepted 22 December 2010 instead of conventional materials. Compressive tests were carried out on representative
Published online 26 January 2011 samples mainly composed of organic aggregate mortar and wood with moisture content
greater than 30%. Wet wood rather than dry wood was used to reduce the impact of wood
shrinkage which usually induces a lack of cohesion between the wood and mortar.
Different log arrangements were also tested in this paper. Results appear to indicate that
cordwood could reasonably be used for individual houses and the research on organic
aggregate mortar and new log arrangements may provide improved performance.
ª 2010 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The trend in construction is to prefer the use of wood deriv-

The development of global warming processes and the pre-
dicted shortfall in natural resources are not the only concerns
for environmental specialists. Although the public at large is
generally becoming increasingly aware of these phenomena,
adopting behaviours more respectful of the environment, and
in particular limiting carbon dioxide emissions, is difficult and
this will undoubtedly take several generations. Simple solu-
tions need to be found. Since trees absorb atmospheric carbon
dioxide via photosynthesis during growth and they only
release it into the atmosphere when burning or decaying, all
wooden buildings store carbon for years and can be consid-
ered a temporary response to the greenhouse gas effect.
Horeover, the increased use of wood encourages the use of
a naturally renewable material.
atives that include more and more added-value but this also
reduces the sequestered carbon mass and increases embodied
energy. Research on primary materials (i.e. non industrial) is
a possible way to find future materials for small constructions
(i.e. 2 storeys high or less) (Bui, Morel, & Hans, 2009; Kouakou &
Morel, 2009; Morel, Mesbah, Oggero & Walker, 2001).
The sequestered carbon mass content of buildings could be
increased by using primary materials. In this spirit, some
Canadian independent builders have developed the cordwood
technique, consisting of building walls constructed from
simple firewood logs joined with mortar (Fig. 1). Cordwood is
“firewood” sold by the cord which approximately equals 4 stere
or 4 m3.
There is currently very little technical data on the
mechanical performance of cordwood published in peer-

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: remy.mouterde@lyon.archi.fr (R. Mouterde), morel@entpe.fr (J.C. Morel), victor.martinet@developpement-durable.
gouv.fr (V. Martinet), frederic.sallet@entpe.fr (F. Sallet).
1537-5110/$ e see front matter ª 2010 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2010.12.006
 Author's personal copy
238 b i o s y s t e m s e n g i n e e r i n g 1 0 8 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 2 3 7 e2 4 3
Nomenclature
EC Embodied Carbon in kg [CO2]
EE Embodied Energy in MJ
LCA Life Cycle Assessment, a method to assess
sustainability of building or products.
MC Moisture Content, it is the mass of water
divided by the dry mass of the sample, in %
RH Relative Humidity in %
R-value Thermal resistance of a wall in m2 K W
1
reviewed journals. However in North America some research
has been done (Dick & Zubriski, 2005; Flatau, 2009; Lansdown
& Dick, 1994, 1995; Roy, 2003; Shockey, 2006; Stankevitz,
Flatau, Roy & Dick, 2005). It is considered that this building
technique has a strong potential in terms of sustainable
development. However, its mechanical behaviour is charac-
terised by low compressive strength, poor cohesion between
wood and mortar and importantly shrinkage of mortar; hence
walls are often too permeable. These points are discussed and
investigated in this paper.
2. Sustainability of cordwood structures
2.1. Sustainability
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the methods usually used
to assess sustainability. In LCA, the impacts are classified in 11
categories (carcinogens, ecotoxicity, respiratory organic,
respiratory inorganic, fossil fuels, climate change, land use,
acidification, ozone layer, radiation, minerals). LCA data on
cordwood was not found in the literature, but cordwood may be
sustainable material at various levels. Since almost any logs
may be acceptable to build a wall it favours the local economy
by using local wood. That makes the method inexpensive and
easy to use that is why many independent builders use it
(Francoeur, 2010). Because this wood is considered as waste no
industrial additives are added.
Local use, and the renewable aspects of the wood, help reduce
carbon dioxide release. Less transportation and the capacity of
the wood to store carbon dioxide make cordwood a good material
Fig. 1 e Structural element of cordwood, exposed to
weather.
to assist with reducing the release of greenhouse gasses, at least
in the short term. Moreover, cordwood is a recyclable material.
2.2. Embodied carbon and energy
The embodied carbon (EC) of cordwood is lower than that of
conventional construction materials. This is due to the use of
firewood logs that need no particular treatment. They can be
used without any specific shaping and no additives are required.
A Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials
(CORRIM) report (CORRIM, 2004) claimed a 17% increase of EC
from using wood frames rather than steel frames and 16%
increase from using wood frames rather than concrete frames.
Moreover, the cordwood method features even less
embodied energy (EE) than wood frame structures as
described in Pierquet, Bowyer, and Huelman (1998). They
compared the thermal performance and EE of individual
houses in North America made of different wood frame and
unconventional concrete materials. Pierquet et al., 1998 found
that total EE in cordwood was 130 MJ, which was lower than
for concrete and most of the wooden structures studied.
However, the thermal resistance (R-value) of cordwood walls
(7.8 m2 K W
1) was not as good as others. This explains why
cordwood does not perform as well over the long-term. By
comparison, Dick and Chaput (2005) using a 610 mm deep
cordwood wall obtained an R-value of 6.2 m2 K W
1 which is
still not sufficient to obtain an efficient thermal insulation.
Fig. 2 represents the total consumed energy of different
kinds of structures (extracted of Pierquet et al. (1998)) as
a function of years in service. The thermal performance was
modelled on HOT-2000 software with the climate of Springfield
(Illinois, USA). The only difference between the studied cases
was in the wall; the doors, windows, foundations, being the
same. For clarity, only three representative structures are
shown: wood frame, concrete frame and cordwood. The total
consumed energy represents the sum of the EE plus the energy
required to heat the structure in a temperate climate. In fact,
the value of total consumed energy at the origin is equal to the
EE. It appeared that, over a 50 year period, despite their better
R-value, the total consumed energy of concrete structures is
never below that of cordwood. This shows that these kinds of
Fig. 2 e Total consumed energy of various structures as
a function of time in temperate climate.
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structure are not really efficient at reducing energy consump-
tion. However, wood frame structures have a lower value than
cordwood over a period of 5 years.
Therefore, cordwood clearly has low EE but its thermal
resistance is not as high as that of wood frame structures. This
could be improved by investigating different kinds of mortar
that could contribute to a better thermal performance. For
example, substituting sand for wood chips, or sawdust, could
improve isolation and obtain a higher R-value. Substituting
lime for loam could reduce EE almost to zero. Thus previous
work has shown the importance of studying this kind of
structure as a substitute for traditional types.
3. Hygrothermal behaviour of cordwood
It is well known that water has a great influence on wood.
Below approximately 30% moisture content (MC), wood
suffers from shrinkage that can trigger cracks and subse-
quently modify its geometry. Also, wood and mortar strengths
are influenced by MC. The higher the MC is, the weaker the
material becomes.
Dimensional variations caused by shrinkage can be very
problematic during drying and can trigger important
displacements, based on the prototype structure dimensions
can be reduced by as much as 5 cm m
1. In these conditions,
knowledge of thermal and moisture transfer is important to
understand the behaviour of the whole structure. Two solu-
tions can be envisaged to limit this effect; sourcing a new
formulation of mortar or the use special fittings that move
with the structure (see Fig. 1: where windows are able to move
with the structure).
Independent builders (Francoeur, 2010) have recommend
using very dry wood to avoid shrinkage but the problem still
remains. Indeed, the water that is initially contained in the
mortar is absorbed by wood during the construction phase.
Subsequently the wood swells then contracts, leaving small
gaps in the structure between wood logs and the mortar. This
phenomenon, a lack of cohesion, weakens the whole structure.
The use of a water-based binder, to prepare the mortar,
may strongly modify the degree of moisture content in the
original material during construction. That is why a new
approach was attempted. Initially, to avoid shrinkage prob-
lems, it was decided to use wood with MC > 30%. This based
on the hypothesis that when the structure dries, the mortar
may absorb the excess of water in wood, triggering shrinkage
of the wood and swelling of mortar, thereby reducing the lack
of cohesion between the two materials.
Off-the-shelf wood moisture metres are unsuitable to
measure this MC. Wood used in industrial applications tends
to be <30% MC. Data obtained from moisture metres wood
beyond the fibre saturation point is not reliable. Hence the MC
of each species has to be measured with progressive oven
drying, which is a destructive test. This makes it difficult to
regularly monitor the wood MC of a log located inside
a construction, and this does not allow monitoring of wood
MC evolution over time. In the test carried out here geometric
measurements were made in parallel with the test specimens
to check for any size variation.
239
Preliminary results confirmed that the wood dries very
slowly when contained in the masonry. A chestnut log, after 2
years of drying, maintained an MC of 26% in a masonry block,
whilst it decreased to 17% MC, during air seasoning.
This explains why measurements made on preliminary
structures showed no changes between 2005 and 2008, since
the logs still had MC close to 30% and the expected shrinkage
did not occur. The sample structures were made from narrow-
section, very dry Linden logs, (lower than 30% MC) and a lime
and sand binder. The wood swelled, due to moisture uptake,
which led to swelling of the formwork and bursting of the
upper section of the mortar between two sections.
4. Compressive behaviour
The compression experiments described here were carried
out in two parts:
 Calibration of test specimens to establish the intrinsic
properties of the component materials;
 Exploration of the geometrical and mechanical properties of
the assemblies using test specimens that represent building
applications.
At the test specimen scale, the behaviour of different dry or
humid woods, were quantified as well as different types of
mineral or organic aggregate mortars. On the intermediate
scale, the effects of log binding systems (log arrangement) were
investigated on the following criteria; the binder coating rate,
drying and water uptake phenomena, and debarking effects.
The approach used did not entail studying an existing
process described by several independent builders (self
builders), but rather developing, in a modern way, a composite
material adapted to the multi-performance criteria (mechan-
ical strength, thermal properties, savings, etc.) expected of
a contemporary building. To do so, it appeared essential to
understand the individual behaviour of each of the compo-
nents and to determine their intrinsic qualities, and then to
discriminate between the observations made concerning the
composite material (Mouterde, Paulin, Arnaud, & Morel, 2008;
Mouterde, Paulin, Sallet, Morel, & Arnaud, 2009).
The detailed behaviour of wood and mortar is not presented
here although it would provide information concerning the
behaviour of the cordwood only the main points to be taken into
consideration will be highlighted. In this paper, an in-depth
micromechanical analysis of cordwood is not presented but
a first approach to its macroscopic behaviour is. The material
was tested at a large enough scale to be considered homoge-
neous (i.e. test specimen size 0.6 m x 0.4 m x 0.3 m and
0.5 m x 0.4 m x 0.5 m). This choice was made because no tech-
nical studies have yet been published on this material. So the
aim, initially, was to get an order of magnitude value for cord-
wood to make this material available for use as soon as possible.
4.1. Testing on wood and mortar
4.1.1. Wood
Wood is an anisotropic material. In the piling process, it is its
transverse behaviour that is important. The mechanical
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240 b i o s y s t e m s e n g i n e e r i n g 1 0 8 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 2 3 7 e2 4 3

performance is linked to the type of wood species used, via

density, transverse strength and MC.
Chestnut tree logs were used here, since this hardwood
tree species is readily available in the Lyon region, France. A
spruce was also included in this study. Testing was carried on
spruce and chestnut trees at an MC around 9%; this corre-
sponds to a typical MC in summer time in this region.
The failure was measured in two cases; transverse
compression and transverse tensile on 3e7 test samples. The
testing procedure used was given in Mouterde et al. (2008). It
appears that transverse compression failure for chestnut logs
occurred at an average of 6.1 MPa (Standard Deviation of
0.9 MPa) and transverse tensile failure occurred at 1.7 MPa
(Standard Deviation of 0.1 MPa). For spruce the transverse Fig. 3 e Stress-strain diagram for different mortars, the
compression failure occurred at 3.3 MPa (Standard Deviation composition of mortars is given in Table 1.
of 0.6 MPa) and transverse tensile failure occurred at 1.6 MPa
(Standard Deviation of 0.3 MPa), (Mouterde et al., 2008). From
these results the assumption was made that failure of the could be used to allow the shrinkage and swelling of the wood.
composite would be below these values. The design basis By comparison, the sand mortar was very stiff and not able to
values are more likely to be based on mortar rather than wood. follow the geometrical displacement of wood thereby
considerably reducing the cohesion.
4.1.2. The mortar
The choice of mortar composition is crucial to provide the 4.2. Compressive strength
final composite material with the expected mechanical and
thermal characteristics. Mortar properties depend on the The physical size of the samples used changed substantially
nature and the dosing of the different components: binder, over the four years of the study. To verify the conditions of
aggregates and water. a representative volume element, a sufficient number of
Three types of binder were tested: clay-based earth with samples were needed without reducing the size of logs nor-
a high percentage of laterite (as used by the School of Archi- mally used on a worksite. The height to width ratio of the
tecture of Grenoble {ENSAG}, France), hydraulic lime NHL 3.5 specimen, which could introduce friction phenomena, had to
(NF EN 459-1, 2002), and non-hydraulic lime CL 90 S (NF EN be carefully defined. Finally, the capacities of the testing
459-1, 2002). equipment available had to be taken into account.
The earth-based mortars were used during the first year in The compressive strength of the material was studied and
order to more easily recycle the logs while still being able to therefore test specimens with a slenderness ratio of 2 were
assess the potential and feasibility of the masonry bonding chosen in order to minimise the frictional effects between the
systems. They have not yet undergone mechanical tests. press and the test specimens (Fig. 4). The problem of friction
The hydraulic and/or non-hydraulic mortars were sub- between the steel of the press and a soft material was dis-
jected to mechanical tests at the School of Civil Engineering cussed for the case of compressed earth blocks by (Morel, Pkla,
(ENTPE), Lyon, France. For each mortar composition, standard & Walker, 2007).
cylindrical test specimens with a section of 200 cm2 and Two materials were tested. First, spruce wood with sand
a slenderness ratio of 2 were used. Since a lot of information is mortar (S) and the second was chestnut wood with woodchips
available concerning mineral aggregate mortars, the choice and sawdust mortar (SDWC). Results show that failure
was made to measure the properties of organic aggregate occurred at 0.9 MPa for the first one and 1.8 MPa for the second
mortars with added hydraulic lime. It was decided to use
sawdust, shavings (litter type), wood chips, hemp and a light
mineral aggregate e expanded clay beads.
Fig. 3 shows that the addition of hemp and clay beads Table 1 e Mortar characteristics and volume ratio of
reduced the strength of the mortar. On the other hand, addi- elements.
tion of lime reinforced the mortar. However none of the Mortar Lime Water Aggregates Compressive Stiffness
samples ever reached the strength of sand mortar. This was strength (MPa)
confirmed by comparing mortar SDWC and SD; a higher ratio failure
of lime compared to aggregates increases the strength. The (MPa)
advantage of mortars that combine sawdust and wood chips S 1 NHL 0.75 2 sand 3.7 750
is their ability to sustain significant deformation even if their SDWC 1 NHL 1 0.75 sawdust 1.5 130
strength is reduced (Table 1). Roy (2005) showed that sawdust 1 woodchips
reduced mortar shrinkage cracking but also reduced strength. SD 1 NHL 1 1.5 sawdust 2.5 330
These last types of mortar were selected because they could SDWCþ 1.5 1.25 0.75 sawdust 1.8 380
NHL 1 woodchips
be interesting from an energy saving point of view and
SDHCL 2 CL 2 1.5 sawdust 0.6 94
because better cohesion could be reached thanks to a higher
2 hemp
deformability. It was also assumed that a great deformability
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Fig. 4 e Compression test on a cordwood sample,
slenderness aspect ratio of 2, moisture content 30%.
(Fig. 5). In the first test, failure occurred at a value of less than
that for sand mortar (Table 1). This meant that failure came
from the lack of cohesion between materials and not from
failure of one of the components. For the second test, the
failure was at higher values than for sawdust and woodchips
mortar (Table 1). Two explanations are possible for this;
failure comes from the failure of the mortar or the failure
comes from the lack of cohesion at the interface. The last
explanation is more plausible because on all the blocks a lack
of adhesion was observed between the binder and the logs
leading to face separation or lateral cracks with the ejection of
Fig. 5 e Stress-strain of cordwood (sand and organic
aggregate mortar).
241
the externally located logs. In this case, it appears that better
results were obtained with a less strong but more deformable
mortar.
There are insufficient results to observe trends in the general
behaviour of cordwood, but the results indicate the order of
magnitude for failure. Moreover, elastic modulus cannot be
calculated because the slopes represented are both elasto-
plastic (Di Benedetto, Tatsuoka, Lo Presti, & Sauzéat, 2005).
Cycles of loading and unloading are required to ascertain
elastic slopes, which is not the case in the Fig. 5.
It was observed that even though cordwood cannot claim
to have properties comparable to current conventional
materials with a high mechanical performance, it can never-
theless be considered a material with acceptable strength.
Given the thickness of this masonry (from 0.4 to 0.5 m), gravity
load displacement allows possibilities that are perfectly
compatible with the construction of individual buildings up to
2 storeys high. Unstabilised rammed earth, for example, does
not generally reach these values (0.8 to 1.5 MPa) (Bui, Morel, &
Hans, 2009; Bui & Morel, 2009; Maniatidis & Walker, 2008).
It is important to note that a failure point equal to 1.5 MPa, is
more than 10 times the downward load of a small house. Under
such conditions, there is a safety factor of 10, which corre-
sponds to the coefficient usually used for ancient masonry.
This gives a real legitimacy to the cordwood construction,
particularly since failure points can be improved, as described
below. Focussing only on the mortar, limiting the EE used
means that few solutions can be envisaged to improve strength
and adhesion. In fact, results have shown, for example, that
the addition of lime is able to reinforce the composite but it also
increases the EE. It was considered possible that larger signif-
icant improvements could be achieved using inter-log bonding
systems. Therefore, the following experiments focussed on
a log arrangement that would offer a more structured
arrangement at the macroscopic level.
4.3. Deformability
Compared to structures made with brick or concrete the
compressive strength of the test specimens was low, but this
was considered not to be a problem for typical cordwood wall
dimensions, as seen above. However, this material has a very
low modulus, a parameter that can impact on dimensions of
the building and must be taken into account in the architec-
tural design; the structure must be able to withstand
substantial settlement without being damaged.
To find out the modulus of cordwood, two kinds of log-
bounding systems were tested: orthogonal (a) and oblique (b)
(Fig. 6). To illustrate the oblique embedding, Fig. 6 (c) shows
the framework of this structure. In both cases, to allow for
direct comparison the percentage of wood was between 60%
and 64%. Moreover, the same organic aggregate mortar made
of sawdust and chips (SDWC, Table 1) was used in all tests.
The mortar bed extended throughout the wall, not only in the
portion of the log ends.
The specimens tested here had a slenderness ratio of 0.5.
This is usually considered inappropriate for measuring
compressive strength in case of an isotropic material (Morel
et al., 2007); but here, thanks to the orthotropic log arrange-
ment, it can still give an appropriate order of magnitude
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242 b i o s y s t e m s e n g i n e e r i n g 1 0 8 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 2 3 7 e2 4 3
Fig. 6 e Two types of embedded wood alignment: orthogonal (a) and oblique (b and c).
measurement of the modulus. The wood logs were much
more rigid than the mortar. The logs of each bed, being
stacked perpendicularly, created friction on the mortar; this is
also called confinement. This friction on each mortar bed is
the same as the friction with the press, which therefore is not
a problem. The tests were stopped well before rupture because
only the service load modulus was interesting in this experi-
ment. Fig. 7 shows tests done on three test specimens with the
same oblique log arrangement and the same mortar (SDWC).
Since this material belongs to the elasto-plastic materials
category, the standard elasticity modulus cannot be measured
directly on the principal slope since it contains both elasticity
and plasticity. The measurement was made from the slopes of
loadeunload cycles which are closer to an elastic behaviour.
Six cycles were performed and therefore 6 moduli were
obtained for a given material.
Fig. 8 shows the moduli measured on 5 test specimens with
the same mortar and different bounding systems. In each
case, the modulus increased with the level of load, as previ-
ously observed by Bui, Morel and Hans (2009) using rammed
earth, which can be considered as a similar material. What is
interesting is that there was no difference between the two
kinds of log arrangement. Thus the framework of logs did not
influence the modulus, which would indicate that the mortar
controlled the modulus, since it was much more deformable.
This phenomenon is the result of the orthotropic behaviour of
the whole structure due to the embedded of logs which are
themselves close to being orthotropic materials.
The modulus ranged from 30 MPa to 70 MPa which is
roughly 10 times lower than for compacted earth and 500
Fig. 7 e Compressive test on oblique bounding system test
specimens (stopped before failure).
times lower than for concrete. From this viewpoint, a parallel
can be drawn with straw bale houses and inspiration can be
taken from the construction techniques used for these
buildings. Straw bale elastic moduli range from 0.4 to 1.8 MPa
(King, 1996, p. 169) which is 20 to 200 times lower than that for
cordwood.
It is worth noting the experiments reported here were
carried out with a MC for the wood around 30%. It means that
mechanical properties can be expected to change with drying.
Two solutions are possible: the materials stiffen and the
whole structure is reinforced or the drying reduces cohesion
and the structure becomes weaker. Further experiments need
to be carried out with lower values to establish the behaviour
of the composites with changing MC. Nevertheless the values
established here are important because they correspond to
the properties of cordwood during the building phase.
What is important to observe is the maximum displace-
ment that will occur during the life of the wall. With a down-
ward load of 0.2 MPa (corresponding to a 2 storey house), Fig. 7
gives a displacement close to 6 cm for a 3 m wall. Adding the
shrinkage displacement (15 cm), shows how significant the
large displacements of this type of building are. To reduce this
phenomenon, a solution could be to wait until the structure
gets close to the MC in service before installing elements such
windows, doors or stairs. A problem will remain due to MC
variations between seasons: wood MC can vary from 8% in
summer to 20% of MC in winter. To prevent large seasonal
Fig. 8 e Repeatability of modulus measurements on
oblique and orthogonal log arrangement cordwood test
specimens.
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variations, special devices could be used to enable windows or
stairs to move with the structure.
5. Conclusions
The results from four years of experimentation have shown
the relevance of the hypotheses:
 The raw material can be used without any prior machining.
Other than cutting to length and occasional splitting to
ensure a regular placement of the logs, no other machining
was required;
 Laboratory measurements confirmed that cordwood could
very well be a structural material, provided that its low
modulus is taken into account when designing 2-storey
homes;
 The essential role of the mortar was confirmed both during
the mechanical tests and through the observation of drying
test specimens.
Some difficulties were also observed that must be taken
into account in this approach:
 A moist technique was favoured, as opposed to what is
currently being developed in the construction industry. Due to
the use of uncured wood and mortar mixed with water, drying
occurs slowly. The effects of humidity have not been assessed;
 The transverse layout of the wood in the piles can encourage
large dimensional variations during drying, but also from
one season to the next. The problems of wood shrinkage and
swelling require adaptive measures during the incorporation
of elements attached to the masonry.
The perspective of this work is the hygrothermal analysis
of cordwood materials and structures. Hygrothermal behav-
iour describes the interrelated heat and moisture transfer
between a material and its environment. The cordwood may
behave as hygroscopic walls and may give substantial stability
to the indoor relative humidity (RH) in rooms. The ability of
cordwood to buffer indoor conditions should be assessed.
Acknowledgement
This work was carried out thanks to the collaboration of many
people. Michel Paulin (ENSAL Lecturer) and Laurent Arnaud
(ENTPE researcher) supervised the students of the “alternative
construction” course of the School of Architecture, Lyon. The
students manufactured the test samples in the Grands
Ateliers de l’Isles d’Abeau (GAIA). Paul Allègre carried out his
MSc studies on this subject. Roland Mathieu and Maurice
Nicolas (GAIA technician) assisted during the courses.
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