Mud-Concrete is a sustainable, novel earth-based walling material (similar to concrete) made out of soil through a series of R&D work under a NSF grant by Prof. Rangika Halwatura and Dr. Rizna Arooz of Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa. With mud-concrete, the functions of sand and metal of cement concrete are replaced by a fraction of the soil. The precise gravel percentage governs the strength of mud-concrete. The cement in this concrete is also used as a stabilizer in very less quantities. Most importantly the introduced self-compaction method becomes a magical solution to remove the labour intensive construction methods and control the cost, quality and save time during construction.
This novel in-situ cast technology will result in series of advantages to the construction industry. In this technology, any type of soil could be improved up to the proposed proportions and easily make it as a ‘Well graded soil” which is ready for construction. Once the wall casting is completed, simultaneously, the total building also gets completed. Thus, the novel technology will cater to the current demand for easy and quick construction technologies.
This system is capable to cater to the different architectural requirement maintaining its quality &
flexibility. Wall thickness could be adjusted according to the architectural & structural requirements by simply adjusting the gap between the mould plates of formwork. Non-plastered smooth walling surface could be achieved with high water content used in the workable mix. A variety of textural and colour finishes in a single wall could also be achieved through careful selection of raw materials.
This novel walling system is patented (patent no. 18762; International patent classification- E04C1/00). This technique was used in some CSR projects in Sri Lanka.