As the "Fujian earth-building" have been inscribed by UNESCO in 2008 as World Heritage Site, attentions of protection about the "Fujian earth-building" has getting more and more. This article takes samples of a rammed-earth wall from Yongding earth-buildings and determines the shear strength of the samples with different water content through triaxial compression tests. The influence on shear strength of water content of rammed-earth samples is analyzed. Test results show that the shear strength of rammed-earth has much to do with the water content of the soil, the greater the water content is，the smaller the shear strength is. With water content increasing, cohesion and internal friction angle of rammed-earth were decreases, and its changing trend is of marked characteristic of stage. When water contents of rammed-earth is under some value, its cohesion changes in small ranges; when water contents of rammed-earth is over the value, its cohesion decreases with water content increasing.
A Study of the Influence of Water Content Profile on the Dynamic Behavior of Rammed Earth Structures