This paper provides a critical review concerning the implementation of compressed earth block (CEB), a modernized earthen material form, into the construction industry worldwide. The capabilities of the implementation are characterized by multiple traits showcasing the potential applications of CEB as an affordable, renewable, and sustainable alternative solution in future housing applications. Worldwide, much research has been developed to showcase the potential benefits of CEB, including expanding the use of more local materials, more efficient construction, remarkable thermal capabilities, decreased transportation costs, and reduced carbon emissions. Construction efforts with CEB can assist communities in providing low-cost housing solutions to implement and increase job opportunities for implementation. This paper identifies the opposing technical, economic, and social barriers that could slow down the implementation of CEB into large-scale adoption of CEB masonry and presents suggested facilitators to combat each stopping point for its implementation. This critical review focuses on the requirements to create and implement standards for CEB as a house-building material and includes a proposed holistic action plan, for marketing CEB as a building material of choice. The proposed action plan shows that upscaling CEB masonry in the construction industry requires additional efforts in concerted research, developing technical standards and codes of practice, education, and public consciousness.
The second section addresses the research question, “How can the compressive strength of the unit compressed earth block be correlated to predict the compressive strength of CEB structural assemblies (such as walls) made of the same single CEB blocks?” To do this, a large database of compressive tests on stabilized CEB masonry units, assemblies (prisms), and walls reported in the literature over the past three decades were assembled and analysed to develop accurate and simple formulae to predict the compressive strength of stabilized CEB walls from unit strength. A thorough critical review of the database was conducted to evaluate the effects of different factors on the compressive strength of stabilized CEB. The collected database was statistically analysed to derive an accurate empirical formula to estimate the compressive strength of stabilized CEB walls from the unit strength. The predictive capability of the formulae proposed was compared to the existing empirical equations, and it was found to produce the most accurate predictions of the compressive strength of stabilized CEB masonry walls with the least variation. The proposed formula can be utilized in CEB design codes, contributing to solving the lack of standardization, which is the most significant barrier to the large-scale implementation of CEB. This effort can help advance the effective use of CEB masonry as a competitive building material.
