MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR MODELING OF A CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL ON STABILIZED EARTH MADE BY STRAW FIBERS

The stabilization of the earth by plant-based fibers such as straw, date palm or others makes adobe brick an anisotropic and highly heterogeneous composite material. Adobe brick, obtained by mixing straw with soil and water, is currently reaching interest thanks to its low environmental impact and its ability to provide a comfortable indoor environment. Possessing the advantages of a promising building material, the adobe brick is getting an increasing attention. The present work aimed to model the effect of straw inclusions on mechanical behavior of the composite material by a numerical approach. A calculation using the finite element method was used to determine the Young's modulus. The numerical results concern a 2D finite element simulation of a matrix with squared inclusions distributed randomly. The obtained results were in line with those previously found by other authors