Unsaturated Behaviour of Material from a Vernacular Eastern Croatia Rammed Earth House

The popularity of the rammed earth building technique has increased over recent decades due to its low ecological impact. Despite the presence of numerous vernacular rammed earth houses across eastern Croatia, research on their properties and behaviour is still in its early stages and appropriate standards to assess vulnerability do not exist. Despite local interest in repairing deterioration that has occurred in some of these houses, without proper knowledge, an important part of Croatian cultural heritage will be lost. To investigate the problem, in this study, laboratory tests of rammed earth material from a rammed earth house in eastern Croatia were carried out. The strength of the material was determined at different moisture contents (4–12%) and characterised based on UCS and soil water retention (suction) test results. Results were compared with other studies, and similar behaviour was observed. The influence of moisture content on strength was noted, as was a reduction in suction’s contribution to strength beyond a certain moisture content. The strengths determined by the UCS tests corresponded to values recommended in the literature. With this research, an insight into the unsaturated behaviour of the vernacular rammed earth buildings in eastern Croatia was reached. However, to get a complete understanding of the behaviour, further research is necessary.