Identifying the Impact of Concrete Specimens Size and Shape on Compressive Strength: A Case Study of Mud Concrete

Abstract

Mud is a versatile material with a prodigious interest for traditional wall construction such as wattle and daub or rammed earth, with and without reinforcements. Mud concrete has been identified as a unique modern material, though more research is required for generalization. Compressive strength, a measure of concrete quality usually depends on the specimen’s size and shape. Specimen’s size and shape for mud concrete is yet to be identified and established. Addressing this knowledge gap, this research aims at investigating the effect of specimen’s size and shape on the compressive strength of mud concrete. At first, the compressive strength’s variation was estimated by varying water content. Then, the water content was kept constant and the variations of compressive strength were estimated by varying specimen size and shape. Both experiments were conducted for different mixtures and percentages of cement. The initial results suggest that the compressive strength of mud concrete decreases with the increase of water content. The decrease indicated linear behavior with a constant gradient. Less influence on compressive strength was observed by considering specimen size, while the shape showed more contribution. The effect of specimen size and shape was increased with the increase of compressive strength.