Design and Characteristics of a Single-Storey Hybrid Wood–Soil Structure

Abstract

The need to reduce the effects of climate change has been increasing. One of the pathways to answer such a need is green construction. Hybrid wood–soil (HWS) structures are eco-friendly in addition to being cost-effective. Within this study, a single-storey building has been architecturally and structurally designed and tested. A conventional reinforced concrete (RC) structural system was designed and considered as a control case to be compared to the design at hand, which is an HWS system incorporating locally cultivated Casuarina Glauca wood and an in situ earth-based mixture. The two design alternatives are compared in terms of cost and carbon emissions. The HWS has proven to be economically viable and eco-friendly when compared to RC. The following stage within the research was to validate that the HWS structure will be structurally sound when erected. First, the effectiveness of the finger jointing process of the wooden members was experimentally assessed through performing bending tests on a finger-jointed specimen. Furthermore, half-scale models of one room within the structure have been manufactured from Casuarina Glauca wood and tested laterally to investigate the resistance of the HWS structural system to lateral loads. The first model was tested laterally without the earth-based infill and plaster materials to assess the behavior of the structural elements and measure its deformations. The second model was tested after applying the earth-based materials to obtain the true structural behavior of the system and the effect of the earth-based materials on its resistance to lateral loads. The results were used to assess the degree of the structural effectiveness of this HWS and the contribution of its components to its lateral stiffness.

Keywords

• timber structures
• hybrid wood–soil systems
• earth construction
• green construction