Dynamic properties of low-density expandable polystyrene concrete materials

Expanded polystyrene(EPS)concrete,known for its environmental friendliness,energy absorption capacity,and low impedance,has significant potential application in the fields of wave absorption and vibration reduction.This study designed and prepared EPS concrete materials with four levels of density.Quasi-static uniaxial compression and Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar(SHPB)impact tests were conducted to obtain stress-strain curves,elastic moduli,failure modes,energy absorptions,and strain rate effects of the EPS concrete under quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions.The influences of density on various performance indicators were analyzed.By combining the Zhu-Wang-Tang(ZWT)constitutive model with a modified elastic-brittle model,a modified dynamic constitutive model was proposed.The accuracy of the model was validated by the experimental data.The results indicate that the addition of EPS particles enhances the ductility of the EPS concrete.The EPS concrete has significant strain rate effect,which gets stronger as density increases.The modifiedconstitutive model accurately characterizes the dynamic stress-strain curves of the EPS concrete.

Dynamic Mechanical Properties of EPS Concrete Under Impact Loading

The finite element method(FEM) models of expanded polystyrene(EPS) concrete were established to study the relationships among dynamic damage, energy absorption and efficiency of buffering materials with varied flexible aggregate contents and impact speeds based on the existing split Hopkinson pressure bar(SHPB)experiments. Applied material indexes including damage degrees, crack rates and energy absorption capacities,and the dynamic responses of EPS concrete under impact loading were investigated. The results show that the failure types of these materials evolve from quasi-brittle destruction to flow-plastic destruction, the damage degree of EPS concrete increases with the enhancement of flexible aggregate content, and the peak of crack rate exists around the extreme point of shock velocities. The energy-absorption efficiency of EPS concrete increases nonlinearly when the EPS beads increase and the shock speed enhances, respectively.

Fabrication and Compressive Properties of Expanded Polystyrene Foamed Concrete:Experimental Research and Modeling

As the construction of high-rise building to expand the product line of lightweight concrete. becomes popular, improvement and innovation are required In this paper, two ways of fabricating lightweight concrete were combined to make a new kind of super lightweight concrete. Normal aggregate is replaced with expanded polystyrene （EPS） granule, while foam is introduced to facilitate fabrication process. As a result, super lightweight concrete denoted as EPS foamed concrete is fabricated, whose bulk density is less than 500 kg/m3. Compressive properties of EPS foamed concrete with bulk density 300--500 kg/m3 were investigated by stress-strain curve. It＇s demonstrated that the compressive strength ranges from 0.7 to 2.5 MPa, which is higher than that of similar products. Furthermore, low elastic module and high residual to ultimate strength ratio ensure its excellent deformation and energy absorption capacity. At last, numerical analysis was performed to interpret the inherent variation of elastic modulus and failure mechanism of this material. The results show that EPS foamed concrete is a kind of super lightweight, easy to fabricate material with excellent compressive property and profound utilization potential.