Lucile Soudani

Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment

Thanks to their microstructure which allows both exchange of gas with their surrounding environment and internal water vapour sorption phenomena, earthen materials are highly hygroscopic. If no material is used as a barrier or retardant to the diffusion into the envelope between the earth and the indoor environment of a building, they have a great...

The use and development of earth as a building material is notably constrained by its specific thermal and mechanical behaviours in relation to water, currently not considered in construction norms and technical guides. As the compressive strength decreases with the presence of water in pores, a good prediction of water content evolution within ear...

The use and development of earth as a building material is notably constrained by its specific thermal and mechanical behaviours in relation to water, currently not considered in construction norms and technical guides. As the compressive strength decreases with the presence of water in the pores, a better understanding of the material behavior at...

The rehabilitation of ancient rammed earth houses, as well as the use of earthen materials in modern constructions, are a growing matter of concern, especially in area such as Rhône-Alpes, France, where 40% of old constructions are in rammed earth. A current pathology observed for this type of construction is related to the rising damps, for which...

In the global will of reducing fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission in the building sector, the use of bio-based insulating materials is gaining interest thanks to their profitable properties and their suitability for the renovation of ancient buildings made out of unconventional materials. However, such materials are still lacking...

Hygrothermal analysis of building envelopes requires high-quality input data and thoroughly tested models. To improve a model developed in Comsol Multiphysics for assessing the hygrothermal performance of rammed earth constructions, flexible dynamic small-scale experiments are presented. First, an experimental study shows the sample production, tes...

The aim of this study is to assess the mechanical behavior of earthen materials when submitted to spatial and temporal variations of temperature and hygrometry. The first step of this study is to quantify the effects of heat and mass transports, including the phase changes occurring within the pores, on the hygrothermal behavior. This information i...

Available throughout the world and used in construction for thousand years, earthen materials are known to improve indoor air quality while keeping the internal temperature relatively stable. In Rhône-Alpes, France, the rammed earth technic is the most spread and consists in compacting layers of earth, one by one, within a framework. Current therma...

The Ph.D. is part of a national research project (ANR Primaterre) aiming at promoting real performances (mechanical and thermal) of primary construction materials with low embodied energy such as raw earth.This work focuses on the thermal and hygrothermal behaviour of rammed earth, i.e. coupled transfers of heat and moisture (liquid water and water...

Available throughout the world and used in construction for thousand years, earthen materials are known to improve indoor air quality while keeping the internal temperature relatively stable. In Rhône-Alpes, France, the rammed earth technic is the most spread and consists in compacting layers of earth, one by one, within a framework. Current therma...

The goal of this paper is to identify the effects of liquid water and water vapor in-pore transports as well as phase changes on the hygrothermal behavior of earthen buildings. Indeed, one of the main assets used to promote these constructions is their role in moisture buffering hence temperature and relative humidity quality controlling. However,...

La réglementation thermique et la demande des habitants poussent à l’isolation du pisé. Mais une isolation inadaptée au bâti en terre crue peut entraîner la perte du confort hygrothermique qui a fait la réputation de ce matériau naturel, ainsi qu’un risque de pathologie humide. Les recherches scientifiques en cours à l’ENTPE sur le fonctionnement h...

Earthen materials might be a solution for energy issues being faced in construction, given their abilities to buffer moisture and improve indoor air quality while keeping the internal temperature relatively stable. However, their impact on the global energy performance of the buildings remains unclear. Our study aims at quantifying the effects of h...

The present paper investigates existing studies on hygrothermal performance of rammedearth constructions. First a short overview of existing simulation tools at whole building level, able to deal with hygrothermal phenomena is presented. Then, existing cases of hygrothermal analysis of rammed earth construction are discussed. Finally, some recommen...