Pullout tests on deformed and plain rebars in cement-stabilized rammed earth

Stabilized rammed earth offers a low energy durable alternative to conventional building materials, such as masonry and processed timber, for low-rise residential projects. To date, rammed earth construction has mainly been used in the developing world, particularly Africa and Asia. Despite recent applications in Australia and the United States, further development of rammed earth in these countries has been hindered by a lack of data on important aspects of material performance. In this paper, work undertaken to assess bond of rebars embedded in rammed earth is described. A variety of cement-stabilized rammed earth pullout test samples were fabricated with deformed, galvanized deformed, plain, and stainless steel rebar. Pullout bond resistance is shown to be a function of rammed earth compressive strength, rebar type, embedment length, and the method of specimen preparation.