IMPROVING THE PHYSICO-MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE OF LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETES WITH POLYSTYRENE IN CAMEROON

Abstract

The population explosion in developing countries, along with uncontrolled and rapid urbanization, fosters a grow demand for housing and a significant increase in waste production. The objectives of this study is to defined a polystyrene-based concrete formulation that exhibits appropriate physical and mechanical properties for construction. For this study, expanded polystyrene was used in the manufacture of the concrete. The Dreux – Gorisse formulation method was applied, which combined several mix design approaches (Faury Bolomey, CES), and takes into account the characteristic of the materials selected for a specific project. Various concrete mixes were proposed, incorporating polystyrene in proportion ranging from 10% to 50%, in steps of 10% and compared to a reference sample. the test specimens use were cubes (10cm x 10cm x 10cm). the result obtained from the analyses of the different sample show that polystyrene concrete has lower compressive strength and density than conventional concrete, but their consistency increase with the addition of polystyrene. However, they may be use for specific type of structures.