This study investigates the structural behavior of bahareque earth walls, a traditional construction system commonly used in rural areas of northern South America. Bahareque (wattle and daub) walls, consisting of guadua (a bamboo-like material) or wooden frames filled with soil mixes, have demonstrated considerable resilience in seismic zones due to their lightweight and flexible nature. Despite their widespread use in these communities, limited scientific data exist on their seismic performance under in-plane pseudo-static horizontal loading. This research addresses this gap by experimentally evaluating the seismic behavior of five wall models with different combinations of guadua, wood, and earth filling materials. The methodology included four main phases, namely field visits to document traditional construction techniques, material characterization, prototype testing under pseudo-static loads, and an analysis of mechanical behavior. Key material properties, including compressive strength and Young’s modulus, were determined, alongside the mechanical and physical properties of the infill material, which incorporated natural fibers. Pseudo-static tests were conducted on five wall prototypes, featuring various configurations of guadua and wood frameworks, both with and without soil infill. The walls were subjected to horizontal in-plane loads to assess their deformation capacity, energy dissipation, and failure mechanisms. The results indicated that walls with soil mixture infill—specifically the GSHS (guadua frame with horizontal guadua strips and soil mixture infill) and TSHS (wood frame with horizontal guadua strips and soil mixture infill) configurations—demonstrated the best seismic performance, with maximum displacements reaching up to 166 mm and strengths ranging from 6.4 to 8.4 kN. The study concludes that bahareque walls, particularly those incorporating soil mixes and horizontal guadua strips, exhibit high resilience under seismic conditions and provide a sustainable construction alternative for rural regions. The scope of this study is limited by the exclusion of dynamic seismic simulations, which could offer additional insights into the behavior of bahareque walls under real earthquake conditions. The novelty of this research lies in the direct evaluation of the seismic performance of traditional bahareque configurations, specifically comparing walls constructed with guadua and wooden frameworks, while emphasizing the critical role of soil infill and guadua strips in structural performance.

La construcción en tierra está presente en todo el mundo. Muchas de estas construcciones se encuentran en regiones sísmicas y tienen una vulnerabilidad alta. Con el fin de reducir esta vulnerabilidad se propone una estrategia integrada que consiste en un refuerzo externo con elementos de madera en ambas direcciones y en ambos lados de los muros (en tapia pisada) simultáneamente con la implementación de un diafragma rígido por medio de una viga de coronación en concreto. Se propone que la viga se construya con una transición entre la tierra y el concreto para mejorar la compatibilidad. Los resultados de ensayos en mesa vibratoria en un modelo a escala 1:6 y su contraparte no reforzada muestran una mejora significativa en el comportamiento global de la construcción (reducción en los desplazamientos hasta del 80% en los modelos reforzados), logrando el objetivo de prevenir el colapso, manteniendo la integridad de la estructura.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Latin American cities adopted earthen construction techniques from European colonizers. As a result, rammed earth (RE) buildings now occupy an important place in Latin America’s cultural heritage. However, earthquakes around the world have shown that unreinforced earthen constructions are highly vulnerable. For several years, researchers in northern South America have been proposing a technique that consists of installing confining steel plates (or wooden elements) on both sides of the RE walls to form a grid. This system has shown excellent performance in controlling seismic damage and increasing strength and ductility capacity. Although researchers have tested full-scale one- and two-story earthen walls under pseudo-static loading in the laboratory, and one- and two-story earthen walls at 1:1 and 1:2 scales on uniaxial and biaxial shaking tables, the behavior of a complete reinforced module (one- or two-story) on a shaking table has never been assessed. The present study presents the results of shaking table tests performed on two-story RE modules at 1:4 scale. The experimental data indicate that the retrofit system with confining steel plates was effective in reducing the seismic damage of earthen constructions. In addition, the comparison of the results of the 1:4 scale tests with the 1:2 and 1:1 scale tests previously conducted by the researchers shows that the acceleration levels of the equivalent prototypes are in the same order of magnitude for the three scales.