SUPERVISOR: Benjamin KROMOSER

PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: Magdalena FÜRHOLZER

Excavated soil is an underused resource with potential to substitute conventional building materials while lowering environmental impacts. Earthen construction is among the oldest building practices and offers a minimal environmental footprint and full circularity. Yet in Austria and Europe it remains economically uncompetitive due to knowledge gaps about soil as a construction material and reliance on outdated production methods. At the same time, excavation material constitutes the largest waste stream in Austria, generating substantial ecological, financial, and social costs. This project addresses these challenges by systematically assessing and classifying excavated soils for construction use with special focus on structural building components.

The PhD projects focuses on conducting a local soil analysis and material characterisation in Hollabrunn (Lower Austria, Weinviertel) to evaluate the suitability of excavation material as a building resource. A practical framework will be developed to assess soil suitability using two primary parameters – texture (percent sand, silt, clay) and plasticity (plasticity index – combined in a single visualization to align soil types with appropriate construction techniques. Building materials will be produced from local excavation, and their mechanical performance will be tested with particular attention to compatibility with automated processing.

Expected outcomes include: (1) a transferable soil characterization template for excavation materials; and (2) correlations across testing domains – mechanical tests of produced materials, geotechnical indices, traditional earthen construction tests, and mineralogical, chemical, and textural analyses – to support classification, design decisions, and circular construction practices.