Repair of rammed earth by injection of mud grouts: a case study from Portugal

• Main Author: Silva, Rui André Martins
• Publication Date: 2014
• Other Authors: Oliveira, Daniel V., Schueremans, Luc, Lourenço, Paulo B., Miranda, Tiago F. S.
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/31282
• topic: Rammed earth; Mud grouts; Adhesion; Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Civil

The region of Alentejo, in southern Portugal, holds an important heritage built in rammed earth. However, little is known about this heritage, which is often found in a relative advanced level of decay. The presence of cracks is a common damage and is responsible for debilitating the structural performance of these constructions, putting in risk their existence and the life of thousand of people. However, the preservation and conservations of this rammed earth heritage requires adopting compatible intervention solutions. With this respect, the repair of cracks by means of the injection of mud grouts is a technique that has been showing great potential. Thus, this paper aims at contributing for the development of the knowledge on the rammed earth heritage from Alentejo and of the injection of mud grouts. With this purpose, an experimental program was carried out where the suitability of soils from Alentejo for unstabilised rammed earth was assessed, as well as the repair effectiveness of the injection of mud grouts.