Durability of soil-cement for building purposes — rain erosion resistance test

In this paper, the effects of compaction pressure (moulding pressure), simulated rainfall, and cement content on the durability of soil-cement bricks have been investigated. The results show that the resistance of the bricks to erosion by raindrops was enhanced by increase in compaction pressure and cement content. The bricks stabilised with 5 percent cement and compressed at 8 MN/m², compaction pressure were found durable to rain erosion. Higher cement content and/or higher compaction pressures yielded very negligibly higher weight losses. These later cases are considered uneconomical. The spray pressure (250 Kn/M²), distance from the face of brick (140mm), duration of spray (3 hours), were also found adequate for rainfall durability tests on cement stabilised soils.