More than 226 million people are affected by some type of disaster every year in various dimensions of human life, both in the short and long term. In this context, housing provision plays a leading role when it comes to basic needs and the choice of construction technologies and materials are determinant for a well-succeeded housing provision process. This work aims to analyze the viability of reinforced masonry technology with cement-stabilized compressed earth blocks as an alternative for the (re)construction process in situations that involve disaster risk reduction (DRR). To address this issue, a discussion from the literature and the main results obtained during the investigations carried out within the scope of the Simple Housing Solution (SHS) Project are presented. In the sequence, analyses are performed under United Nations Development Program/International Recovery Platform sustainability recommendations: environmental, technical, financial and socio-organizational aspects. It is concluded that the technology of Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBs) reinforced structural masonry has a high potential to be successfully applied in DRR situations, especially when associated with the community construction system in a joint effort.

One of the significant challenges of recovery in critical situations (post-disaster, post-conflict, refugee settlement, among others) is the prompt and adequate housing (re)construction with scarce resources, and the affected population’s involvement. The Simple Housing Solution (SHS) project consists of a proposal for a methodology for (re)construction of homes and other small buildings (schools, health clinics), using low-cost construction technologies and community labour (mutual help system). The SHS project’s body of knowledge was organised in the form of a course with video lessons on YouTube and a website translated into different languages. The idea is to provide material that may help affected populations to work towards their recovery, with the support of qualified professionals (engineers and architects). The purpose of this chapter is to present the SHS Methodology and its main outputs.

The undrained remoulded shear strength of a clay, sur, is an important parameter in the design of a number of geotechnical applications. In the case of onshore tests the value ofsur is generally obtained from vane tests. Recently, cyclic T-bar tests have been used to obtain the sur value, especially for offshore applications. Seventeen T-bar cyclic tests in two deployments have been performed at Sarapuí II soft clay test site. In a third deployment only penetration was recorded. The presence of roots has influenced the values of the initial penetration in one of the deployments, as observed in another test site, which is a consequence of the shape of the penetrometer and may be considered a shortcoming of the test. Therefore, to know whether roots have influenced the test results in a site at least two repeatable tests must be performed. If cyclic tests are performed, their results can provide a good indication of the influence of the roots. Considering the vane shear test as reference for obtaining su and sur, NT-bar obtained from tests not affected by the roots ranged from 8.8 to 10.9, with an average of 9.8, while Nrem, T-bar ranged from 14.1 to 19.5, with an average of 16.3. Therefore NT-bar values (related to the natural condition) were smaller than Nrem, T-bar (related to the remoulded condition). The equations suggested by Yafrate et al. (2009) to evaluate the remoulded penetration resistance, the whole degradation curve and the sensitivity, based only on the initial penetration and extraction resistances have provided good results for the Sarapuí II soft clay, except in the case of very shallow depths.

Thick wall (6.6 mm wall thickness) plastic samplers, 97.2 mm in internal diameter (area ratio of 29%), 700 mm in length (length of soil sample 640 mm), with a cutting edge angle of 23°, without clearance and with a sampler head have been used to collect very soft clay samples at Sarapuí II test site. Very good to excellent and good to fair quality samples have been surprisingly obtained in most cases, which were attributed to a combination of five factors: the absence of an inside clearance, the low friction of the plastic sampler, the small “trick” to close the top of the sampling rods assuring that suction would be imposed on the top of the sample, the very careful handling and trimming process, combined with no extrusion of the sample, and the small ratio between specimen diameter and sample diameter. It is still too early to propose the use of thick wall plastic samplers - in combination with the procedures outlined above - to be used in regular undisturbed soft clay sampling, and more research is needed to identify the role of each procedure in the final result. However, if confirmed, the procedures adopted will allow significant cost saving with respect to the use of thin wall brass (or stainless steel) samplers.

Limitations of the cone penetration test, especially to accurately determine undrained shear strength (S_u) in soft soil deposits with high in situ stresses, have motivated the development of alternative devices, such as the T-bar and ball penetration tests, commonly referred to as flow penetrometers. These devices can estimate, in a single test, both the undrained shear strength (S_u) and the remolded strength (S_ur). When equipped with pore pressure sensors, they also provide valuable information on soil stratigraphy and consolidation parameters, making them versatile tools for characterizing soft soils. This study presents the development of two flow penetrometers, piezoball and piezo-T, highlighting relevant aspects of their design and calibration, followed by experimental campaigns conducted in two Brazilian clay deposits (Tubarão/SC and Sarapuí/RJ). Field tests enabled a direct comparison between the flow penetrometers and conventional methods, both in terms of S_u and S_ur. The investigation also examined the coefficient of consolidation of the soft soils. The results demonstrate good repeatability and consistent values for the bearing capacity factors (N_b and N_t) and remolded behavior (N_b-rem and N_t-rem). Regarding the performance of the pore pressure transducers, the piezoball test demonstrated good performance in pore pressure measurements and derived coefficients of consolidation. In contrast, despite the proposed design modifications, the piezo-T exhibited instability in the readings. Although the findings are derived from specific sites, the discussion is framed in light of the ranges reported internationally, highlighting potential local implications and reinforcing the need to expand robust geotechnical databases to support future applications.