David E. Montgomery

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering (2002)

This document contains the detailed results and conclusions of work carried out during a PhD to investigate the process, production and performance of dynamically compacted cement-stabilised soil blocks suitable for sustainable low-cost building.

The dynamic compaction mechanism was more closely analysed to determine the forces delivered during the impact blow. These were found to be fraction (30kN) of the forced delivered by an equivalent hydraulic press (400kN). This results in less complex and less expensive machine manufacture that is amenable to local manufacture and maintenance. Furthermore, dynamic compaction presents an economically viable and sustainable alternative to other methods of block manufacture.

 

Full Document (280pp, 2.1Mb)