Abstract
Lightweight concrete is one of the options used in construction in lieu of the traditional normal-weight concrete. Due to its lightweight, it provides lighter structural members and thus, it reduces the total weight of the structures. The reduction in weight resulting in the reduction of the seismic forces since its density is less than 1840 kg/m3. Among all of the concrete constituents, coarse aggregate takes the highest portion of the concrete composition. To produce the lightweight characteristics, it requires innovation on the coarse aggregate to come up with low density of concrete. One possible way is to introduce the use of the artificial lightweight aggregate (ALWA). This study proposes the use of polystyrene as the main ingredient to form the ALWA. The ALWA concrete in the study also used two types of Portland cements, i.e. OPC and PPC. The ALWA introduced in the concrete comprises various percentages, namely 0%, 15%, 50%, and 100% replacement to the coarse aggregate by volume. From the results of the study, it can be found that the compressive strength and the modulus of elasticity of concrete decreased with the increase of the percentage of the ALWA used to replace the natural coarse aggregate.
Highlights
Concrete is the most popular material which has been used for more than a century for structural purposes in construction [1,2,3]
From the study and discussion above, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1. The use of polystyrene artificial lightweight aggregate (ALWA) as a replacement to the natural coarse aggregate has successfully reduced the density of concrete which was found to be less than 1840 kg/m3 when 100% polystyrene ALWA replacement was applied
The densities of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) concretes were found to be 1665.82 kg/m3 and 1761.31 kg/m3, respectively. This is due to the density of polystyrene ALWA is lighter than the crushed stone
Summary
Concrete is the most popular material which has been used for more than a century for structural purposes in construction [1,2,3]. In order to come up with the lightweight concrete, the coarse aggregate is the main issue that needs to be replaced by the lighter one to reduce the self-weight of the structural components. Despite there are three major types of cement in the market, the effect of OPC and PPC in concrete have been the major issue and investigated earlier [24]. This study discusses the impact of using the polystyrene ALWA as a replacement to the natural coarse aggregate in the concrete. The soluble polystyrene was formed to resemble the shape of the natural coarse aggregate of which its size can be designed and produced to satisfy a certain need of gradation or sieve analysis. The percentages of ALWA replacement to the natural coarse aggregate used in concrete were 0%, 15%, 50%, and 100% by total coarse aggregate volume
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