ORIGINAL ARTICLE Comparative compressive strength of stabilized and un-stabilized rammed earth Binod Khadka . Manjip Shakya Received: 1 July 2015 / Accepted: 10 December 2015 Ó RILEM 2015 Abstract In order to minimize the unsustainable use of natural resources and massive consumption of energy in manufacturing of building materials (like cement, brick) and to protect the environment from the critical natural hazards like global warming (due to emission of CO 2 during production phase), the green home technique (i.e. rammed earth construction) is seen to be an efficient technique. In this paper, the suitability of rammed earth construction has been highlighted on the basis of results obtained by testing compressive strength of cube samples made using locally available materials like soil with/without stabilizers. Four categories of sample i.e. stabilized samples using cement with/without curing, using dung as stabilizer, using cement with black cotton soil and un-stabilized samples were moulded and tested. Results show that strength of stabilized sample is sufficiently high to use it as a building material. Keywords Rammed earth Á Global warming Á Compressive strength Á Stabilization 1 Introduction Today whole world is facing a common burning issue i.e. global warming due to unsustainable use of natural resources especially for construction purposes. Hence, there is a need of finding an alternative materials and methods for construction to minimize such impacts and to protect the environment from natural disasters [1, 2]. In such condition one of the stable and eco- friendly alternative techniques of building construc- tion may be rammed earth construction [1–5]. The term rammed earth refers to a building technique in which earth, the primary constituent, is compressed within a framework to give desired shape. In addition to earth, it includes stabilizing materials, which may vary according to strength requirement [6]. Today, earth building production techniques range from the most rudimentary, manual and craft-based to the most sophisticated, mechanized and industrial [7]. Soil has been, and continues to be, the most widely available and used building material throughout most developing countries. It is cheap, available in abun- dance, simple to form into building elements, a sustainable resource and most importantly its use has minimum environmental impacts [8–14]. Moreover, it is easy to work with, requires less skills and as such, it encourages and facilitates unskilled individuals and groups of people to participate in their housing construction on self-help basis [15]. Soil is generally considered to be heavy and of low strength. However, it can be stabilized and compressed to yield high B. Khadka (&) Á M. Shakya Department of Civil Engineering, Khwopa Engineering College, Bhaktapur, Nepal e-mail: khadka.b92@gmail.com M. Shakya e-mail: maanzeep@gmail.com Materials and Structures DOI 10.1617/s11527-015-0765-5