Most developing countries have a pressing need to construct durable houses at a cheap price. Compressed earth blocks (CEBs) have been recognized as an affordable material that might help solve the issue and eliminate the housing shortage. Although the properties of CEB using lime are well-known, there are still many questions surrounding the use of vegetal fibers. The principal purpose of this research is to determine the influence of the size and amount of cork particles and quicklime on the mechanical and thermal characterizations of soil-based compressed earth blocks from Marrakech-Safi region in Morocco. For this purpose, four cork aggregate sizes are used: these are the granular classes  and  The results obtained reveal the remarkable benefits of cork in reducing the weight of CEB and improving its thermal performance.  However, a decrease in mechanical strength was observed with an increasing dosage of lightweight aggregates for all four aggregate size classes. The thermal conductivity varies inversely with the size of the aggregates; it is the same for the mechanical characteristics. Incorporating cork aggregates  into the mixture significantly enhances thermal performance. This improvement is achieved with minimal compaction influence while ensuring the resulting mixture to maintain an acceptable strength level.

compressed earth block, cork, lime, construction, thermal conductivity, mechanical strength.

Received: August 30, 2023; Accepted: October 12, 2023; Published: November 21, 2023

How to cite this article: M. Kheltent, S. Nasla, Y. El Maatoufi, Y. Jamil, M. Laatar, H. Lbakhkhouch, K. Gueraoui and M. Cherraj, Influence of the size and amount of cork particles and lime on the mechanical and thermal characterizations of soil-based compressed earth blocks from Marrakech-Safi region in Morocco, JP Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 36 (2023), 19-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.17654/0973576323050

This Open Access Article is Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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