{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T15:16:34Z","timestamp":1774624594709,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,10]],"date-time":"2020-06-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1591747200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008530","name":"European Regional Development Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029328"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029328"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008530","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PD\/BD\/113641\/2015"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PD\/BD\/113641\/2015"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Energies"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The present research is focused on an experimental investigation to evaluate the mechanical, durability, and thermal performance of compressed earth blocks (CEBs) produced in Portugal. CEBs were analysed in terms of electrical resistivity, ultrasonic pulse velocity, compressive strength, total water absorption, water absorption by capillarity, accelerated erosion test, and thermal transmittance evaluated in a guarded hotbox setup apparatus. Overall, the results showed that compressed earth blocks presented good mechanical and durability properties. Still, they had some issues in terms of porosity due to the particle size distribution of soil used for their production. The compressive strength value obtained was 9 MPa, which is considerably higher than the minimum requirements for compressed earth blocks. Moreover, they presented a heat transfer coefficient of 2.66 W\/(m2\u00b7K). This heat transfer coefficient means that this type of masonry unit cannot be used in the building envelope without an additional thermal insulation layer but shows that they are suitable to be used in partition walls. Although CEBs have promising characteristics when compared to conventional bricks, results also showed that their proprieties could even be improved if optimisation of the soil mixture is implemented.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/en13112978","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,10]],"date-time":"2020-06-10T05:11:46Z","timestamp":1591765906000},"page":"2978","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":62,"title":["Mechanical and Thermal Performance Characterisation of Compressed Earth Blocks"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1435-0733","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elisabete R.","family":"Teixeira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Gilberto","family":"Machado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1997-7087","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adilson de","family":"P. Junior","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Christiane","family":"Guarnier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Federal Center for Technological Education \u201cCelso Suckow da Fonseca\u201d (CEFET\/RJ), Rio de Janeiro-RJ 20271-110, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9023-2013","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge","family":"Fernandes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3521-459X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sandra M.","family":"Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2973-8175","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ricardo","family":"Mateus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Minke, G. 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