This book endeavours to provide the theoretical tools and practical examples to understand the mechanical and structural behavior of rammed earth buildings. The book will focus predominantly on the procedures to design reinforced cement-stabilized rammed earth structural elements like walls, lintels and beams. It will also discuss the methods to design traditional unstabilized rammed earth walls. A special chapter will be dedicated to the assessment of soil suitability for rammed earth. This book will also provide some guidelines for the use of alternative stabilizers like lime and fly ashes.

Daniela Ciancio completed her Bachelor of Civil Engineering at the University of Catania (Italy) in 2001 and Ph.D. in Structural Engineering in 2005. The Ph.D. thesis was developed at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain, and University of Colorado in Boulder, USA. She was a post-doc between 2005 and 2007 at the UPC. In November 2007 she joined UWA. She now holds the position of Associate Professor in structural engineering at the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering and Director of the Structures Laboratory. Her current research interests are in i) material and structural characterization of rammed earth and ii) numerical simulation of cracks in concrete using zero-thickness interface elements.

Danielle Rosman holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) from the University of Western Australia (Perth, Australia) and a Bachelor of Architectural Design from the RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia). She completed her studies in 2010 with a Master of Architecture from RMIT University. She worked as a structural engineer in Melbourne for 4 years and as an architect in Berlin (Germany) for 2 years. She came back to Australia in 2013 and since then she has worked as a structural engineer at Scott Smalley Partnership in Perth. Over her career, she has specialised in the design of cement-stabilised rammed earth buildings. She also has extensive knowledge in the design of glass, timber, steel, concrete and masonry structures.

Bill Smalley studied civil engineering at Perth Technical College, which later became WA Institute of Technology, and graduated from there with an Associateship in Civil Engineering in 1968. He worked in a consulting practice as a structural and civil engineering draughtsman while studying and following graduation, as a structural engineer. He began in independent practice in 1981. He is presently the principal of Scott Smalley Partnership, consulting in the area of structural engineering design, including the use of stabilized rammed earth.