Predicting the performance of soil-cement as a building material in tropical countries

Because of the variability of natural soils, it is a difficult task to predict the performance of soil-cement blocks in practice, and a conservative approach must be adopted. Though time-consuming and severe, the A.S.T.M. durability test provides the best indication of the performance of soil-cement building under tropical conditions. Tests at low compaction energies on a wide variety o Zambian soils suggest, however, that the perdominant factor affecting durability is dry density. A correlation between these two properties may be used, with an appropriate margin of safety, to introduce great simplification into procedures or selecting soils for making soil-cement blocks.