Applicability of the Expanded Polystyrene as a Soil Improvement Tool
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 30, Issue 6
Abstract
EPS is the international acronym for expanded polystyrene, which is a thermoplastic derived from petroleum. Each EPS bead is composed of 98% air and 2% raw material (in mass); therefore, its considered a waste problem because it occupies a lot of space in landfill sites. An alternative for reducing the disposal of this product is using it as a soil reinforcement material in earthworks. This paper presents the experimental study performed to assess the behavior of three types of soil (colluvial clayey soil, sandy soil, and bentonite) reinforced with the addition of EPS beads. The soil samples with and without the addition of EPS beads were submitted to compaction tests, isotropically consolidated drained triaxial compression tests, and direct shear tests. The results showed that the soil type, the content of EPS beads, and the level of confining stress influenced the final mechanical behavior of the composites in relation to the resistance parameters.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their gratitude to the financial supports, from Brazilian government—National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), for the Universal Research Project and for the Productivity Research and the Ph.D. scholarships to develop this study.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 30 • Issue 6 • June 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 21, 2017
Accepted: Nov 16, 2017
Published online: Mar 30, 2018
Published in print: Jun 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Aug 30, 2018
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