Durant les dernières années, les études des procédés de trituration ou d’extraction des huiles végétales à partir des graines oléagineuses se sont concentrées sur les impacts environnementaux, la consommation énergétique et les qualités nutritionnelles. Les travaux de recherche ont donc visé l’étude de l’intensification des procédés d’extraction des huiles et de leur raffinage à travers leur décontamination phytosanitaire, grâce à la texturation par Détente Instantanée Contrôlée DIC et à la technologie d’autovaporisation multi-flash (MFA), respectivement. D’une part, ces travaux de recherche ont porté sur l’impact d’une texturation par la technologie de DIC, qui est à l’origine d’une modification de l’aptitude technologique des graines, vis-à-vis de l’extraction et de la préservation de la qualité nutritionnelle des huiles extraites. Appliquée sur des graines oléagineuses (graines de colza et de soja) et sur la base d’un bilan quantitatif (rendements en huile), cette étude met en évidence l’impact de la technologie DIC comparée à des prétraitements conventionnels tels que la cuisson, le concassage, l’aplatissage et le traitement par expandeur. D’autre part, sur la base d’une modélisation phénoménologique, les cinétiques d'extraction ont aussi été étudiées en vue de comparer les paramètres cinétiques d'extraction d'huiles végétales, cités plus haut, tels que la diffusivité effective et l’accessibilité initiale, par rapport aux systèmes conventionnels. Les résultats indiquent l’amélioration de la cinétique d'extraction des matières traitées par DIC d'une part, et la préservation de la qualité nutritionnelle des composés extraits, d'autre part. Enfin, les travaux fondés sur la technologie d’autovaporisation multi-flash (MFA) ont porté sur le raffinage des huiles extraites principalement au plan de son contenu phytosanitaire. L’efficacité de cette technologie a été prouvée dans l’objectif d’une décontamination des résidus de pesticides (organochlorés) dans le cas de l’huile de colza brute. / Recently, studies of structural pretreatment and improvement of the sector of vegetal oil extraction from oilseeds have focused on the intensification of the concerned processes in both aspects of performance (environmental impacts, energy consumption, and kinetics) and quality (nutritional content, sensorial attributes…). Therefore, this research aimed to study the improvement of oil extraction processes and their phytosanitary decontamination, based on DIC texturing and multi-flash autovaporization (MFA), respectively. First, the effect DIC texturing technology was studied as structural pretreatments in improving the technological aptitudes of processing seeds such as rapeseed and soybean, regarding the extraction kinetics and yields, and the preservation of the nutritional composition of the extracted oils. DIC was studied based on quantitative assessments of oil (yields, composition…), highlighting its impact following the conventional pretreatments such as cooking, crushing, flattening, and expanding. Furthermore, founded on the Coupled Washing Diffusion CWD phenomenological model, in the specific cases of Negligible External Resistance NER extraction kinetics were also conducted to determine the fundamental extraction parameters of solvent vegetal oil extraction kinetics, such as the effective diffusivity and the starting accessibility, compared to conventional systems. The results denoted the improvement of extraction kinetics of the materials treated with DIC, on the one hand, and the preservation of the nutritional quality of the extracted compounds, on the other hand. Finally, this work focused on the study of multi-flash autovaporization (MFA) technology and its effect on the phytosanitary aspect of the extracted oils. The effectiveness of this technology has been proven for pesticide residue decontamination (organochlorine) of crude rapeseed oil.

As a natural composite material, wood exhibits complex structural char-acteristics and diverse behavior under compression and tensile forces. Itsanisotropic nature results in mechanical properties that vary depending onthe load direction along its longitudinal, tangential, and radial grains. An im-portant property of anisotropic materials is the modulus of elasticity, whichrelates stress to strain and demonstrates directional variations.This study focuses on investigating the mechanical properties of pinewood,particularly stiffness, and deformation, in the longitudinal direction duringcompression, taking into account the effect of the sample size. The digitalimage correlation (DIC) method is utilized to measure deformation, an op-tical technique that involves tracking motion in DIC patterns. Wood, beinga renewable and natural composite resource, has been widely used as a con-struction material and for various other purposes for centuries. Its physicaland mechanical properties encompass a broad spectrum influenced by factorssuch as species, moisture content, density, and temperature.This research aims to analyze the size-dependent effects on deformation andstiffness in pine wood samples using the DIC method. Initially, three sam-ple sizes were compared, namely 10 × 10 × 10mm3, 20 × 20 × 20mm3, and25 × 25 × 100mm3 these were selected based on Afshar (2022) and Walley& Rogers (2022). However, the sample size of 20 × 20 × 20mm3 producedinsufficient results due to equipment limitations to test them under sufficientload. Among the remaining sample groups, nine specimens from each groupwere tested and compared in terms of stiffness and deformation. The exper-imental results did not provide statistically significant data supporting thepresence of a noticeable size effect between the dimensions of the samples10 × 10 × 10mm3 and 25 × 25 × 100mm3. / Trä är ett förnybart och naturligt kompositmaterial och har i århundradenanvänts som byggmaterial och för olika ändamål. Dess fysikaliska och mekaniskaegenskaper omfattar ett brett spektrum som påverkas av faktorer som fuk-thalt, densitet och temperatur. Trä som ett naturligt kompositmaterial ochdess komplexa strukturella egenskaper visar varierande beteende vid tryckoch dragkrafter. Träets anisotropa natur gör att dess mekaniska egenskapervarierar beroende på belastningsriktning, längs dess längd, tangential ellerradial riktning. För anisotropa material är elasticitetsmodulen en viktig egen-skap som varierar längs de olika riktningarna. Vilket är ett samband mellanspänning och deformationen och visar riktningsvariationer.Den här studien syftar till att undersöka de mekaniska egenskaper hos furu.Den här studien undersöker storleks-effekt i materialet furus styvhet och de-formationen längs fiberriktning (längd) vid kompression med hjälp av DigitalImage Correlation (DIC). Metoden DIC är en optisk teknik som mäter de-formationen hos material med hjälp av spårningsmönster på materialet.För att se storleks effekten hos trä jämfördes initiellt tre provstorlekar, näm-ligen 10 × 10 × 10mm3, 20 × 20 × 20mm3, och 25 × 25 × 100mm3 dessa provs-torlekar valdes baserat på Afshar (2022) och Walley & Rogers (2022). Dockproducerade provstorleken 20 × 20 × 20mm3 otillräckliga resultat på grundav begränsningar i utrustningen för att testa dem under tillräcklig belast-ning. Bland de återstående provgrupperna testades och jämfördes nio provfrån varje grupp när det gäller styvhet och deformation. De experimentellaresultaten gav inte statistiskt signifikanta data som stödjer förekomsten aven märkbar storlekseffekt mellan dimensionerna hos proven 10 × 10 × 10mm3och 25 × 25 × 100mm3.

This study is part of an original approach based on quantitative imaging techniques, such as Infrared Thermography, to study the damage under fretting loadings. The main objective was the establishment of new experimental method for a rapid determination of crack initiation conditions under fretting loadings, based on the analysis of the thermal signal. One other objective was the determination of the different heat sources in order to assess a local analysis of the fretting damage. This work underlined the great potential of Infrared Thermography to study this damage. / Cette étude s'inscrit dans une approche originale basée sur des techniques d'imagerie quantitatives comme la thermographie infrarouge pour étudier l'endommagement sous chargement de fretting. Le premier objectif était de développer une méthode de construction rapide de carte de fretting basée sur l'analyse du signale thermique au cours d'essais de fretting. Un deuxième objectif était de déterminer les sources de chaleurs accompagnant le fretting pour une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes d'endommagement. Ce travail a souligné le grand potentiel de la thermographie infrarouge pour l'étude de c'est phénomènes.

Dans le cadre de la présente thèse, a été étudié l'impact de la texturation par traitement thermo-mécanique DIC (Détente Instantanée Contrôlée) sur le séchage de divers produits alimentaires. Ce prétraitement a induit une amélioration de la cinétique de l'opération de séchage quand elle est limitée par le transfert interne de la matière couplé au rétrécissement du produit. Ainsi, la diminution du temps de séchage a atteint 67% dans le cas de l'oignon et 77% dans le cas du cassis. Quant à la diffusivité effective Deff, elle a augmenté par rapport à la matière première jusqu'à 246% pour les pépins et 795% pour les déchets de canneberge, 336% pour l'oignon et 1223% pour le cassis. Dans le cas des produits étudiés, la pression de vapeur de traitement DIC a généralement un effet significatif positif sur la cinétique de séchage et d'extraction des différentes molécules. Concernant les caractérisatiques des produits, nous constatons l'impact positif du traitement par DIC quant aux principales caractéristiques de la matière. Ainsi, les composés phénoliques apparaissent plus disponibles à la suite du traitement adéquat par DIC. Le contenu en composés phénoliques et la capacité antioxydante étant supérieurs dans les produits traités par DIC, la qualité nutritionnelle s'est ainsi également trouvée améliorée. Avec une dégradation thermique négligeable, le traitement DIC implique un effet mécanique dû à la détente instantanée, ce qui permet la rupture de certaines structures cellulaires de la matière et l'augmentation de la quantité maximale extractible. Les caractéristiques physiques diverses (masse volumique apparente et taux relatif d'expansion), les caractéristiques microstructurelles (mesurées par microscopie électronique à balayage) et fonctionnelles d'interaction avec l'eau (réhydratation, teneur en eau, isotherme de sorption, microbiologie et contenu nutritionnel...) peuvent être optimisées en fonction des conditions opératoires DIC, selon les besoins du consommateur.

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are a new class of structural materials and exhibit unique combinations of mechanical properties. As a result, their mechanical behavior has been an active area of scientific pursuit in the recent past and considerable emphasis has been paid to understand plastic deformation in them. It is now well accepted that shear transformation zones (STZs), aided by free volume, are the fundamental carriers of plasticity. At a microscopic level, deformation at low temperatures and high stresses tends to localize into shear bands. Most BMGs posses high fracture toughness despite high yield strengths and poor global ductility. However, the micro-mechanisms of fracture and fatigue in this new class of materials are not fully understood yet. The overall objective of this study is to provide insights into the fracture and fatigue response of amorphous alloys, which is important both from scientific and technological perspectives. The key questions we seek to answer through this study are the following. Do amorphous alloys undergo a ductile-brittle transition (DBT), and if so what are the reasons for it? What are the parameters that influence fatigue crack initiation in amorphous alloys and whether fatigue life can be improved by surface treatments? A related question is whether the BMGs are susceptible to deformation-induced crystallization (DIC). A Zr-based BMG, Zr41.2Ti13.75Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 was utilized to conduct this study. By comparing the fracture and fatigue behaviors in the as-cast and annealed states {annealing was carried out below the glass transition temperature (Tg) because of established embrittlement effects}, we seek to provide answers for the questions posed above. We begin by examining the influence of temperature on the toughness of BMGs. Impact toughness measurements show that the annealed samples, which are brittle at room temperature, recover the lost toughness beyond a critical temperature (TDB) and exhibit a sharp DBT. However, the hardness remains unaffected across the TDB. Fractography reveals nano-scale patterning and cleavage fracture in the brittle state, while the formation of thick vein-patterns and shear fracture are characteristics of the ductile state of the annealed samples. We explore various micro-mechanistic possibilities for explaining the features of this transition, including a critical Poisson’s ratio-toughness correlation. Next, to understand the origins of fatigue crack initiation, we study the un-notched fatigue response of as-cast and sub-Tg annealed Zr-based BMG specimens. Because of embrittlement and nano-crystallization at the crack initiation region, the annealed specimens exhibit a lower fatigue life than the as-cast specimens. Shot-peening of the as-cast specimens did not exhibit significant improvement in their fatigue performance because of competing effects between the compressive residual stress field (CRSF) and deformation-induced softening. To further investigate surface and repeated loading effects, the tribological response of the as-cast Zr-based BMG was compared with specimens annealed above and below the Tg. A good correlation between the hardness (increasing as a function of the annealing temperature) and wear rate was obtained. The formation and peeling of the oxide layer formed during testing was the primary wear mechanism in all the specimens. Lastly, crystallization was observed within the deformed region of the as-cast Zr-based BMG repeatedly scratched with a sharp diamond indenter. But, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) does not reveal any evidence of crystallization within the indents formed within an electron transparent film formed by laser deposition of the as-cast Zr-based BMG. Absence of crystallization in deformed regions obtained by designing critical experiments, which avoid artifacts generated during sample preparation, suggests that the occasional observation of DIC might be an exception rather than the rule in BMGs.

No description available.

本篇論文的目的在介紹階層貝氏之時間與空間統計模式(spatio-temporal model)，將此模式應用在疾病地圖的分析，以了解疾病在空間上的分佈狀態與時間趨勢。模型中除了納入時間、空間和年齡的效應外，也包括時間與空間、時間與年齡的交互作用，並考慮到空間相關性(spatial correlation)，然後以DIC值(Deviance information criterion)作為模式選取的準則。 本文並以民國88-90年全身紅斑性狼瘡的女性患病人數做為實證分析的資料。配適時間與空間統計模式後，以馬可夫鏈蒙地卡羅法(MCMC)來模擬參數值，估計出各時間、地區、年齡層的對數疾病發生率。由疾病地圖可看出，台灣地區全身紅斑性狼瘡的女性疾病發生率，以20-59歲的年齡層發生率較高，0-19歲的發生率較低。不管在哪一個年齡層，北部和中部地區的發生率都是最高的。時間趨勢方面，88-90年整體疾病發生率有遞減的趨勢，60歲以上的發生率也是遞減的趨勢。但在部分地區，則有發生率遞增的趨勢。 / In this study, we introduce the spatio-temporal model in a hierarchical Bayesian framework and use disease maps to display the spatial patterns and the temporal trends of disease. A special feature of the model is the inclusion of spatial correlations used to examine spatial effects relative to both regional and regional changes over time by group. Then, we use deviance information criterion (DIC) to compare complex hierarchical models. The methodology is illustrated by an analysis of female Systemic Lupls Erythematosus (SLE) morbidity data in Taiwan during the period 1999-2001.The model inference is implemented using Markov chain Monte Carlo method. The outcomes of the practical analysis appear that the higher morbidity rate occurs in 20-year and 40-year period. No matter what age group, the morbidity rate is highest in the north and the middle of Taiwan. Furthermore, the morbidity rate decreases with respect to year as well as over the 60-year period but it increases in some places.

Ce travail s'inscrit dans une stratégie d'investigation expérimentale et numérique des mécanismes d'enlèvement de la matière lors de l'usinage de l'alliage de titane Ti-6Al-4V. Il aborde un problème complexe, fortement couplé, faisant intervenir la thermique et la mécanique aux petites échelles (micrométrique). Le manque de moyens de mesure dédié à ces échelles de temps et de l'espace (phénomènes rapides et très locaux) ne permet pas, à ce jour, d'appréhender précisément les phénomènes thermomécaniques mis en jeu pendant la formation de copeau. De ce fait, un dispositif spécifique, appelé VISIR, répondant à cette problématique a été mis en place. La partie expérimentale s'est donc orientée vers une compréhension plus fine des mécanismes d'enlèvement de la matière. Elle a notamment permis de mettre en évidence l'évolution de grandeurs mécaniques et thermiques durant la formation des festons mais surtout le couplage entre la température et la vitesse de déformation. Basée sur les constatations expérimentales, une étude du comportement thermomécanique de cet alliage a été mis en place. Des essais en cisaillement dynamique à travers des éprouvettes chapeau ont permis d'identifier par méthode inverse une nouvelle loi de comportement couplée en température et en vitesse de déformation. De plus, une étude de l'endommagement s'est appuyée sur l'identification et l'évaluation de huit critères communément utilisés dans le domaine de mise en forme a permis de proposer une nouvelle loi, inspirée du critère de Tresca, couplée au comportement. L'intégralité de ces formulations couplée à un modèle de frottement Stick-Slip ont enfin été implémentés dans un modèle EF 3D. La confrontation expérimentale/numérique en termes de grandeurs mécaniques et thermiques a révélé la robustesse et l'aspect prédictif du modèle EF développé. Enfin, les résultats de cette étude ont permis de développer une discussion détaillée sur les mécanismes d'enlèvement de la matière et plus particulièrement les complexes trajet des fissurations. / This work develops an experimental and numerical strategy in order to investigate material removal of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V during machining process. It therefore intends to tackle a complex and strongly coupled problem, involving thermal and mechanical aspects at small scales (micrometric). The lack of measuring means dedicated to such scales in terms of time and space (rapid and strongly local phenomena) does not allow yet to precisely apprehend the thermomechanical phenomena involved during the chip formation. As a result, a specific device, called VISIR, that addresses this issue has been set-up. The experimental aspect of this work has therefore been oriented towards a more precise understanding of the material removal mechanisms. It allowed to observe the evolution of mechanical and thermal quantities during the chip formation and more precisely the strong coupling between the temperature and the strain rate. Based on these experimental insights, the thermomechanical behavior of this alloy has been studied through dynamic shear tests using hat-shaped specimens. It allowed to identify through inverse method a new constitutive equation coupled in temperature and strain rate. In addition, a study on damage is conducted. It is based on the identification and the evaluation of eight criteria commonly used in the material forming process. This leads to proposing a new damage equation, inspired from the Tresca criterion and coupled to material plastic behavior. All of these formulations along with a Stick-Slip friction model have finally been implemented in a 3D FE orthogonal cutting model. Experimental/numerical comparison in terms of mechanical and thermal quantities revealed the robustness and predictive aspect of the developed FE model. Finally, the results of this study allowed to develop a detailed discussion on the material removal mechanisms and more particularly the complexe cracks paths.

The shipbuilding sector, as well as all modern transportation industries, is faced with demands for greater productivity while at the same time ensuring the manufacture of consistently high quality products, reducing levels of re-working, saving energy, and minimizing operational costs. Furthermore, it is imperative that new designs and all the stages of production comply with stringent environmental regulation. Within this context, the application of Friction Stir Welding (FSW) as a manufacturing process to weld Tailor Welded Blanks (TWB) for Al structures can contribute to the development of high speed craft and lightweight ships that are more fuel efficient, based on a high energetic efficient and environmental friendly welding process. In this work, the heterogeneous mechanical behavior of TWB joints welded by FSW was evaluated using quasi-static and cyclic loading, and the observed microstructural features were analyzed. The TWB joints were manufactured using dissimilar alloys and thicknesses (6 and 8mm) of particular interest in the shipbuilding sector (AA5083, AA5059 and AA6082). An evaluation of local constitutive properties in different regions through the TWB joint was performed by digital image correlation linked to the tensile test system. From the DIC data processing were generated stress concentrations diagrams and true stress-strain curves for several TWB subzones. The DIC methodology used as well as the accuracy of the proposed method are described in detail. The joints exhibited excellent mechanical properties approximately the same as those of the base metal for the joints manufactured with work hardened alloys (AA5059/AA5083) and 76% mechanical efficiency to those manufactured with the heat-treatable alloy (AA6082). The fatigue strength of the TWB joints were higher than the IIW references for welded structures in aluminum and the fracture mechanisms were characterized using SEM. / O setor de construção naval, bem como a indústria moderna, é continuamente sobrecarregada por demandas de aumento de produtividade e ao mesmo tempo precisa garantir a fabricação de produtos com alta qualidade, reduzindo os níveis de retrabalhos, economizando energia e diminuindo os custos operacionais. Adicionalmente a este paradoxo, é imperativo que os novos designs de produtos e todos os estágios de produção sejam compatibilizados com as rígidas exigências ambientais. Neste contexto, a concepção de projetos de estruturas leves soldadas por SALM em configurações sob medidas (Tailor Welded Blanks - TWB) em Al podem contribuir para produção de embarcações com eficiente consumo de combustível e redução dos níveis de eliminação de CO2 através da redução do peso de suas estruturas. Além de utilizar um processo de soldagem eficiente energeticamente e amigável ao meio ambiente. Neste trabalho as características heterogêneas de juntas em TWB soldadas por SALM foram avaliadas através de ensaios mecânicos com carregamentos quasi-estáticos e dinâmicos e, foram criadas relações entre as propriedades mecânicas das juntas e alterações microestruturas resultantes do processo de soldagem. As juntas em TWB foram produzidas com três diferentes ligas de alumínio de particular interesse da construção naval, (AA5083, AA5059 e AA6082) em configurações similares e dissimilar, com combinações de espessuras de 6 e 8mm. Acoplado ao ensaio de tração um sistema de correlação digital de imagens (DIC) foi instalado e o perfil de deformação local das juntas foram investigados durante o carregamento. A partir do processamento dos dados obtidos por DIC, diagramas de concentração de tensão e curvas de tensão-deformação locais foram computados para diferentes subzonas das juntas. O procedimento utilizado, bem como os dados obtidos e a precisão da metodologia proposta foram descritos detalhadamente. As juntas apresentaram excelentes propriedades mecânicas, equivalentes às do metal base para a junta dissimilar produzida com as ligas endurecidas por trabalho mecânico (AA5059/AA5083) e 76% de eficiência para as juntas similares produzidas com a liga tratável termicamente (AA6082). A resistência a fadiga das juntas foram superiores às referências do IIW para juntas soldadas em alumínio e os mecanismos de fratura foram caracterizados por MEV.

Rammed earth is a monolithic construction formed by compacting processed soil in progressive layers. Rammed earth is used for the construction of load bearing walls, floors, sub base material in roadways, airport runways, taxiways, aprons, foundations and earthen bunds. Soil, sand, cement and water are the ingredients used for the preparation of cement stabilized rammed earth (CSRE) specimens. The cracking in a rammed earth structure is due to the development of tensile stresses. The tensile stresses are generated due to various causes like unequal settlement of foundation, eccentric loading and / or lateral loading such as wind pressure and earthquake on an earth structure. The cracking in a rammed earth structure causes the failure of its intended function. For example formation of crack may lead to the instability of an embankment slope. And earthen dam can be destroyed gradually by erosion of soil at the crack surface (Harison et al. 1994). Hence, it becomes important to understand the fracture behaviour of cement-stabilized rammed earth structures. Well focused studies in understanding the fracture behaviour of CSRE structures are scanty. The present work attempts to address some issues on the fracture behaviour of CSRE including size effect. Through an experimental programme material properties viz. compressive strength, tensile strength and stress-strain relationships are generated for two chosen densities, 17 and 18.5 kN/m3 of CSRE both in dry and saturated condition. Soil composition, density, cement content and moisture content of the specimen during testing influence the characteristics of CSRE. In the present investigation keeping the cement at 10%, the density is varied choosing a soil-sand mixture having optimum grading limits. The basic raw materials used are soil, sand, cement and water in the ratio of 1 : 1.5 : 0.25 : 0.34 by weight. The strength properties studied alone are inadequate to predict the mechanics of fracture due to the presence of microscopic flaws, cracks, voids and other discontinuities. Therefore, some linear elastic fracture parameters such as mode I fracture toughness (KIc), critical energy release rate (GIc), net section strength (f net) and notch sensitivity are calculated, presuming that CSRE is still a brittle material because it is yet to be confirmed that CSRE is a quasibrittle material. In fact, in the present work, it is shown that CSRE has significant amount of softening. A comprehensive experimental work has been undertaken to test CSRE beam specimens for two densities, three sizes of beam and three notch to depth ratios under three point bending (TPB) in a closed loop servo-controlled machine with crack mouth opening displacement control. Results indicate that the CSRE in dry condition exhibits a greater resistance to fracture than the saturated specimen. The variation of net section strength with the notch depth is not significant. Therefore the CSRE material is notch insensitive, implying that it is less brittle. An experimental program was undertaken to determine the nonlinear fracture parameters of beam specimens both in dry and saturated condition. The influence of moisture content, density, size of the specimen as well as notch to depth ratio of the specimen on RILEM fracture energy (G F ) are presented. The GF values increase with increase in density and size of the specimen, while they decrease with increase in notch to depth ratio. Results clearly show that the total energy absorbed by the beams (W OF ) and RILEM fracture energy (G F ) for all specimens tested in dry state are higher compared to the specimens tested in saturated state, indicating that the dry specimen offers higher resistance to the crack propagation. The RILEM fracture energy GF , determined from TPB tests, is said to be size dependent. The assumption made in the work of fracture is that the total strain energy is utilized for the fracture of the specimen. The fracture energy is proportional to the size of the fracture process zone (FPZ), which also implies that size of FPZ increases with increase in the un-cracked ligament (d - a) of beam. This also means that FPZ is proportional to the depth d for a given notch to depth ratio, because for a given notch/depth, (d - a) which is also is proportional to d because is a constant. This corroborates the fact that fracture energy increases with size. Interestingly, the same conclusion has been drawn by Karihaloo et al. (2006). They have plotted a curve relating fracture process zone length and overall depth the beam. In the present study a new method namely Fracture energy release rate method proposed by Muralidhara et al. (2013) is used. In the new method the plot of GF /(d - a) versus (d - a) is obtained from a set of experimental results. The plot is found to follow power law and showed almost constant value of GF /(d - a) at larger ligament lengths. This means the fracture energy reaches a constant value at large ligament lengths reaffirming that the fracture energy from very large specimen is size-independent. This Fracture energy release rate method is used to determine size-independent fracture energy GRf , based on the relationship between RILEM fracture energy and the un-cracked ligament length. The experimental results from the present work agree well with the proposed new method. Similarly, the method is extended to determine nominal shear strength τv for large size beam. Results show that for both densities GRf decrease in saturated condition, while in dry condition as the density is increased from 17 to 18.5 kN/m3 the GRf decrease by 7.58%, indicating that the brittleness increases with higher density. The τv for large size beam increases with density both in dry and saturated condition. The size effect method for evaluating material fracture properties proposed by Bazant (1984) is applied to cement stabilised rammed earth. By measuring the peak loads of 2D geometrically similar notched beam specimens of different sizes, nonlinear fracture parameters such as fracture energy (Gf ), fracture toughness (KIc), effective length of the fracture process zone (Cf ), brittleness number (β), characteristic length (l 0) and the critical crack tip opening displacement (CT ODc) are determined for both dry and saturated conditions. The crack growth resistance curves (R-curve) are also developed for dry and saturated specimens. In the size effect method, for both densities 18.5 and 17 kN/m3 the values of nonlinear fracture properties, namely G f , Cf , KIc, CT ODc and l 0 are lower for the saturated specimen compared to those of the dry specimen. In dry condition as the density is increased from 17 to 18.5 kN/m3 the Gf decreases to 13.54%, indicating that the brittleness increase with higher density. The areas under the load-displacement and load-CMOD curves are a measure of the fracture energy and these areas are low for saturated specimens. The crack growth resistance curves (R-curve) plotted using the size-effect law from peak loads are the measure of resistance against crack growth R. The value of R is high for dry specimen compared to that of the saturated specimens. During aggregate pullout or the opening of crack, the interlock or friction between the crack surfaces may cause the energy dissipation through friction and bridging across the crack. Therefore the wet friction in case of saturated specimen must be smaller resulting in more brittleness compared to the larger dry friction for dry specimen. In the present investigation the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique is used to study the FPZ properties in cement stabilised rammed earth. The MATLAB package written by Eberl et al. (2006) is suitably modified and used for image correlation to suit our requirements. CMOD measured using DIC technique is validated by comparison with the CMOD measured using clip gauge. The FPZ properties such as the development of FPZ and crack opening displacements at different loading points as well as the influence of notch/depth ratio on FPZ length (lFPZ ) are evaluated for both dry and saturated conditions. At peak load the lFPZ are about 0.315 and 0.137 times the un-cracked ligament length respectively for specimens tested under dry and saturated conditions. In dry and saturated states the FPZ length decreases as the ratio increases. Lower values of lFPZ in saturated specimen indicates that it is relatively more brittle compared to dry specimen.