EarthCrete Systems

Having obtained a pressure gauge in the right range for a lateral load wall test, the test revealed a unique ability of this system. To think of ductility with masonry is not normally done. The mortared bondings create a total monolithic wall mass. Any movement or settling of the footing will manifest a crack, an unbonding, in the wall. Who hasn't seen old brick or block buildings with a major gaping crack in the wall? Building settling over time is an inescapable fact. Part of a low or maintenance free building system is to successfully deal with long term building movement.
 
In a four foot wide hallway in my house, I set up the test. (A video will be forthcoming). The ceiling height is seven panels high (16" x 7 = 112" = 9' 4"). The walls have no internal fill to help spread out applied loads. The middle of the wall is 3.5 panels up from the floor, or the middle of the fourth row. A hydraulic ram was set at that point and pressure applied between the walls. It's not an easy thing to do to crank up pressure on walls inside one's house that support an 8" thick concrete roof slab with solar water heaters mounted above. Would a panel suddenly fracture and set off a chain reaction leading to who knows what? The point of contact with each wall side was a 5-1/4" circle cut from 1-1/8" plywood. I decided to apply pressure until there was a drop in the gauge reading, indicating that maximum resistance had been reached. As the pressure increased and creaky noises came forth, it was very difficult to keep going. How dumb can a person be? On one hand, one wants to keep going to be amazed at what the wall can resist, and on the other one wants to stop and say good enough to avert a "tension" packed situation. The pressure increased to 1,340 pounds when it finally dropped off. The walls spread about a quarter inch. Releasing the pressure the walls came back to their original position, indicating an "elastic" deformation. Understanding that the wall is sandwiched between the floor slab and roof slab, but with a small wobble ability and braced to the opposite panel through the cavity coupler and tongue and groove (strip and slot) joinery, the ability to absorb and dissipate energy is utterly uncanny. One can imagine it to be similar to a large drum, able to take strong repeated blows.