COMPRESSED EARTH BLOCKS WITH POWDERED GREEN MUSSEL SHELL AS PARTIAL BINDER AND PIG HAIR AS FIBER REINFORCEMENT

Abstract

Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB) made from soil and compacted using a mechanical molder
can be stabilized using cement. Moreover, CEB can perform as well as concrete hollow blocks (CHB) when
properly strengthened with ordinary Portland cement. Due to the low tensile strength of CEB, pig hair fibers
(PHF) which is waste material, can be utilized as fiber reinforcement to improve the performance of CEB
against cracking. Due to the high cost of cement, green mussel shells (GMS), which is another waste material,
can be used as partial cement substitute in compressed earth blocks. In this study, CEBs with PHF and GMS
were subjected to compressive, flexural, and drip erosion tests. By using 4 variations of fiber content of PHF
(0, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1%) and 3 variations of percentages of cement replacement with GMS (0, 5%, and
10%) resulted to 12 PHF-GMS mix combinations. The compressive strength at 7, 14 and 28 days were
evaluated for each mix combination. A total of 276 specimens were prepared in this study. Statistical analysis
using the software Stata was conducted to filter the test results. ANOVA and T-Test were also used to
determine the significance of the increase in strength with reference to the control specimen. Using the
validated test results, the best performing mix was determined. The results showed that CEB with 0.75%
PHF and 10%GMS is the best mix among those tested. It yielded 67% increase in compressive strength and
626% increase in flexural strength. Lastly, the same specimens, 0.75%PHF-10% GMS, also performed well
in the drip erosion test.