Unravelling the nonlinear behavior of stabilized mud bricks through inclusion morphology and mineralogical composition analysis

Compressed earth bricks remain a cost-effective and widely available construction material, and their stabilized forms are increasingly adopted worldwide. In this article, the nonlinear behavior of stabilized mud bricks is assessed, giving particular emphasis to the effect of inclusion morphology and mineralogical composition. The work combines the geotechnical and mineralogical characterization of the soil and silica fume with a micromechanical analysis based on numerical homogenization. Experimental tests will be compared to numerical predictions with the aim of assessing the material response. The results reveal that the increment of silica fume content from 8% to 10% provides a denser mix (17.97 to 18.18 kN/m³), with improved compressive performance. Inclusion morphology is also a significant factor in nonlinear behavior, as spherical inclusions provided stiffness predictions that were 12% and 18% closer to experimental curves for the 8% and 10% mixes, respectively. These observations underline the importance of accurate microstructural representation when modeling stabilized earth bricks. This integrated experimental–numerical methodology will provide important insight into the predominant mechanisms in stabilized mud bricks and will contribute to establishing more reliable and economic earthen construction materials.