Special Issue "Earth-Based Building Materials"
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2022.
Special Issue Editors
Interests: life cycle assessment; climate neutral buildings; waste valorization; low carbon cement; sustainability assessment; applied clay science; earth construction; engineered natural building materials
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Interests: material science; porous media; image analysis; nanomaterials; earth construction; concrete material technology; waste valorization; 3D printing
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Traces of earthen architecture date to 10,000 years ago, and earthen-based building materials are still used in most climates and societies. Without transport and with infinite recycling possibilities, earth is among the building materials which have the lowest environmental impact, and very efficient temperature and moisture regulation properties for indoor living spaces. Earth construction is currently under strong development, likely due to environmental concerns. However, this development is limited because the conventional earth construction techniques are both time-consuming and labor-intensive. Moreover, earthen materials lack dedicated standards. In contrast, cement is an incredibly easy-to-use material but has a significant environmental impact. Substantial engineering and scientific efforts have been invested to improve the understanding and processing of cement-based concrete, but only slight engineering improvement has been made for earth.
Earth material is readily available, but widening its use in to contemporary cities urges us to invent constructive technologies which could facilitate a quick use of excavated earth on site. This would drive the construction sector towards a closing material loop and engage the sector transition into circular economy.
The current Special Issue aims to gather recent developments in the understanding of earth-based building material. The articles presented in this Special Issue will cover various topics, ranging from but not limited to interactions between clay platelets, mechanical behavior of vernacular techniques, development of new processes, structure stability and durability. The SI will also draw future perspectives.
Prof. Dr. Guillaume Habert
Dr. Emmanuel Keita
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Compacted Earth Blocks
- Extruded Earth Blocks
- Poured Earth
- Rammed Earth
- Plastering
- Coating protection
- Applied clay science
- Bio-based reinforcement
- Mix design
- Processing
- Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical behaviour
- Durability
- Life Cycle Assessment
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
1. Assessing influences of different factors on the mechanical characteristics of geopolymer stabilised compacted earth
1 Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Faculty of Civil Engineering, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; [email protected]
2 Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; [email protected]
3 Institute for Building Energetics, Thermotechnology and Energy Storage, Stuttgart University, Germany; [email protected]
4 Sustainable Developments in Civil Engineering Research Group, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; [email protected]