An investigation on the structural properties of concrete with expanded polystyrene (EPS) and flyash

• Main Authors: Ato, Charles Joshua H., Domingo, Jan Rensys D., Santiago, John Zoilo F., Viduya, Jose VIctor D.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2018
• Subjects: Structural engineering; Concrete; Cement; Civil Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/9082
• Institution: De La Salle University

The dead load due to the weight of conventional concrete has always been the lead cause for high earthquake loads in a structure. In light of the need to greater lessen the weight of concrete, a concrete mixture composing of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and flyash powder is proposed. Although a number of researches applications have been done on the use of EPS as lightweight aggregates to produce lightweight concrete, these researches focused on non-structural members such as walls and partitions. EPS is a lightweight materials made from plastic and are bead-shaped while flyash is a byproduct of coal combustion and has cementitious characteristics. EPS is partially substituted as fine aggregates with varying percentage of 10%, 15%, 25%, 30%, and 50% of the total volume of sand white flyash will be added as an admixture with volume of 9% that of the cement. The EPS is meant to greatly lessen the weight while the flyash is meant to produce a better bond between the materials by filling up the voids in the mixture. The proposed EPS-flyash concrete is tested on a prototype residential structure. The EPS-flyash concrete cylinders tested showed a decrease in unit weight having a compressive strength above the required strength properties of the EPS-flyash concrete by testing the concrete in flexure using plain and reinforced concrete beams and by testing the splitting tensile strength of the concrete using concrete cylinders.