Feasibility of using cement in rammed earth by integrated ANP-GA method

The use of rammed earth (RE) has attracted the attention of engineers and researchers in recent years due to their advantages such as sustainability, availability and low embodied energy content. These advantages result less energy consumption in life cycle of the RE structures. There is a lack of research on mixture composition of RE materials containing admixtures. This research introduced integrated analytic network process (ANP) and genetic algorithm (GA) methodology to select the ideal mixture of stabilized and unstabilized RE materials with different moisture content. Five criteria including cost, building weight, carbon footprint, mechanical strength and thermal performance are considered in this investigation. Thermal and mechanical experiments were performed on the different mixtures of RE. Based on the results, a RE mixture with mass ratios of 78% sandy soil, 12% moisture and 10% cement meets the most appropriate RE mixture. This proposed model can be used to select the ideal mixture of other engineering materials.