Processing of earth-based materials: current situation and challenges ahead

With the overall aim of supporting the development of new construction techniques and materials that are more economical and less carbon intensive, RILEM has decided to launch three new technical committees on earth construction in 2022. One of these committees will focus on the manufacturing processes used in earth construction (TC PEM). The aim of this committee is to bring together experts from several disciplines (materials science, earth construction, rheology, geotechnics, cement chemistry, etc.) to advance earth construction techniques by sharing and promoting good practice. The processing of earth is today based on solid empirical knowledge which fails to convince structural design engineers. As a result, earth construction is still limited to small buildings. To upscale the use of earthen material in construction, it is required to provide a solid scientific background that can be used for the writing of standards and recommendations to guarantee minimal performances in service. Areas of work include improving understanding of the mechanical behaviour of the material in the fresh state, developing characterization methods, monitoring the material during curing, and studying new construction techniques, particularly digital ones. The work of the technical committee PEM “Processing of earth-based materials” is expected to gather the scientific knowledge that can be further used for the writing of construction and design codes for earthen materials.