Experimental and Computational Analysis of Compressive Strength of Bricks with Granite Powder and Fibres as Binder to Soil

The effect of incorporating granite powder and fibres (oil palm and polyethylene plastic) into soil for sun dried brick production was investigated. Initial tests were conducted on the soil and the granite powder so as to obtain all the relevant index properties of the materials to be used. Fifteen percent granite powder, by weight of the soil was added to the soil as a binder and palm and plastic fibres as enhancer for sun dried bricks production. The bricks were tested for their compressive strength and validated with Finite Element Numerical Model. It was observed that at 1.0% fibre addition, the compressive strength increased, by 17% and 29.7% for the palm and plastic fibre respectively. At 1.5%, fibre content the corresponding values were even higher at 28.6% and 38.3% increase over the control brick without fibres. The granite powder soil brick with the highest weight fraction of fibre were found to provide the best correlation between the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model and the experimental observation in relation to both the loading path and maximum strength. The FEA predicted the real behaviour well, and the composite action between the fibres and the soil could be seen largely as an enhancement through a tensile strength provided by the fibres to contain and retain the soil in place to continue to carry the compressive force. Further work is recommended to continue with the validated numerical model tool to design a fibre - enhanced granite powder soil brick with required performance characteristic for practical use in construction.