STRENGTH AND DEFORMATION CHARACTERISTICS OF EPS BEAD-MIXED SAND

Abstract

In this research, a study on strength and deformation characteristics of expanded polystyrene(EPS) bead-mixed sand was comprehensively conducted. A series of standard Proctor compaction tests wereconducted to determine the proper amount water for use in the mixing between EPS bead and sand at thevolumetric ratio of 1:1. A special series of drained triaxial compression tests were performed on the sand-EPSbead mixture (SEM) specimens. Various loading histories, consisting of: i) monotonic loading (ML) atdifferent constant strain rates; ii) sustained (creep) loading (SL); iii) cyclic loading with small strain-amplitude(CL); and iv) stepwise changes in the strain rate during otherwise ML, were employed in this study. Theseloading histories were used to evaluate the elastic and viscous properties of the SEM. Then these propertieswere also compared with the ones obtained from the sand alone under similar loading conditions. It is foundthat the elastic and viscous properties of the SEM are qualitatively similar to those of sand alone. They aredifferent in terms of quantity. A non-linear three-component (NTC) model was used to simulate the elastoviscoplastic deformations of the SEM. The simulations are well successful by using the model parametersdetermined especially for the SEM sand under the conventional model framework.