Author
PETER WALKER University of Bath

Abstract
Erosion from wind-driven rain is often a major concern for unbaked earthen wall construction. As a result a variety of accelerated tests have been developed to assess material performance. These include subjecting samples to jets of pressurised water, dripping water tests and cyclic water immersion and drying tests. Test details and their arbitrary pass/fail are briefly compared and outlined in the paper. Performance of experimental compressed earth blocks subject to six different erosion tests is compared. Influence of soil grading, cement content, compaction pressure, and block geometry is considered. Resistance to erosion improves with cement content and compactive effort. In tight of the experimental results the need to rationalise current erosion tests is highlighted. The paper suggests a future approach for erosion testing earth blocks.