• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.57-65
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• 2010

The main objective of this study is to investigate the time-dependent deformation of EPS blocks under repeated loading conditions which is the one of the flexible pavement structure. The study comprised of both the experimental work and analytical modeling in order to understand the behavior of EPS blocks under repeated loading. The analytical modeling included the selection of a suitable model for describing the deformation behavior observed under repeated loading conditions, investigating the relationship among the unit weight, deformation and applied stress, analyzing the effect of repeated load on deformation. The test results were compared with the Findley's theory and model analysis with the results of this research under repeated loading conditions. Both Modified Findley's model and the proposed model can be adopted to illustrate the deformation behavior of EPS blocks under repeated loads.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.80-90
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• 1998

The EPS construction method-one kind of the load reducing methods-utilizes the EPS blocks, ultra-light materials whose unit weight is about 1/100 of soils and has been applied to many soft ground sites. It needed 3,000 days to get the 90% degree of the consolidation for the case of 12m high soil embankments on the 30m thick soft clayey foundations. The N value of SPT at this deposit was less than 5. The pack drain was installed to promote the radial consolidations. Although staged embankments were planned, designers failed to get a sufficient stability of the foundation ground. Therefore, the EPS fill method was selected to reduce the load and the construction period. EPS blocks(D-20 model) replaced the upper part of the soil embankments. These complex embankments reduced the ground settlement and the construction period. The possibility of lateral movements of the bridge abutments was checked and the design scheme was reviewed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1998.03a
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• pp.273-280
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• 1998

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1996.12a
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• pp.141-150
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• 1996

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.101-108
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• 2004

For the last 30 years, the use of EPS as a lightweight filling material has grown significantly throughout the world. The fields of applying EPS block have also increased. The most representative example in geotechnical applications is using EPS block as a compressible inclusion that causes the reduction of static earth pressure on earth-retaining wall, bridge abutment and pipes. EPS blocks have a good workability by its lightweight characteristic and a uniform engineering property with the change of its density. Also EPS blocks have best material property as a compressible inclusion. This paper analyzes that the compressible inclusion function of EPS causes the reduction of static earth pressure on retaining wall and concrete box culvert. A series of in-situ tests were conducted to evaluate the reduction of static earth pressure using EPS inclusion. Based on in-situ test, it is found that the magnitude of static earth pressure was reduced to about 20% for the retaining wall and about 45∼53% for the box culvert compared with theoretical active earth pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.97-105
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to provide the ways of recycling of by-product limes as lightweight fill, backfill materials, and lightweight blocks by performing experimental study. New lightweight fill materials and blocks were devised by mixing by-product lime, weathered granite soil, small pieces of waste EPS, and Portland cement. Physical, geotechnical, and environmental properties of the lightweight mixed soils and blocks were analysed by laboratory experiments for mixed samples manufactured with various mixing ratios. KMS tests were also performed to evaluate the concentration variation of the chemical components of the light weight blocks leachates. It is expected that this study will contribute to resolving the problem of by-product lime disposal as well as to recycling the by-product limes as fill materials and blocks.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.15-28
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• 1998

The use of EPS application to construction field was introduced in this country very recently. Nevertheless, approximately a total of 210,000m3 of EPS application was conducted in less than four years. Main app.lication areas for the EPS method are : (1)backfill behind a bridge abutment constructed on soft clay soil, (2)embankment constructed on soft clay soil, and (3)backfill of gravity wall. Among these, about 70oA of EPS are used for (1) and (2) deb cribed above. In this study, an invesitgation was held for the application of the EPS method to backfill of a bridge abutment which was constructed on soft clay soil. Several instruments were installed around the construction site to invesitgate the behavior of the system. Then a Finite Element Analysis was conducted for comparison.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2013.11a
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• pp.152-153
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• 2013

Based on the Fire Service Act of mandatory provision, new buildings are strictly forced to use fire protection materials. Flame resistant EPS is one of those materials. Unlike conventional EPS that can be fused to make EPS ingot and be recycled for various purposes, flame resistant EPS waste cannot be recycled due to the presence of protective coating that is applied to increase the fire protection properties of EPS. A suitable alternative that can process large amount of flame resistant EPS wastes needs to be developed, and one of the possible alternative is to use them as construction materials. In this research, experiments were designed to observe whether the flame resistant EPS wastes can be utilized as partial replacements of fine aggregates in cement mortar. The replacement ratio of waste EPS was varied, and its effect on compressive strength and absorption capacity was investigated. According to the experimental results, both compressive strength and absorption capacity met the Korean Standard specification for cement bricks and blocks, indicating that flame resistant EPS wastes can be used for construction purposes.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.35-44
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• 2015

The resilient modulus model of EPS geofoam to be used for a flexible pavement design was developed. In this study, the model was applied to design the flexible pavement and to predict the magnitude of the deformation of EPS geofoam blocks as a subgrade in the flexible pavement structure by using the resilient modulus model of EPS geofoam (RMEG) program. The RMEG program presented how much the EPS geofoam subgrade settled over the designed duration and the AASHTO flexible pavement design equation with the resilient modulus of EPS geofoam noted that how long the flexible pavement endured under traffic loads with 70% reliability for the estimated duration with less than 5mm vertical deformation during 20.6 years without the significant pavement distress as a substitute material for the natural soils.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.475-488
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• 2020

The recent increase in the use of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) geofoam in construction and geotechnical projects has driven researchers to investigate its behavior, more deeply. In this paper, a series of experimental tests to investigate the stress-strain behavior and the mechanical properties of EPS blocks, under monotonic axial loading are presented. Four different densities of cylindrically shaped EPS with different dimensions are used to investigate the effects of loading rate, height and diameter, as well as the influence of the density of EPS on the stress-strain response. The results show that increasing the height of the EPS samples leads to instability of the sample and consequent lower resistance to the applied pressure. Large EPS samples show higher Young's modulus and compressive resistance due to some boundary effects. An increase in the rate of loading can increase the elastic moduli and compressive resistance of the EPS geofoam samples, which also varies depending on the density of the samples. It was also determined that the elastic modulus of EPS increases with increasing EPS density. By implementing an efficient numerical procedure, the stress-strain response of EPS geofoam samples can be reproduced with great accuracy. The numerical analysis based on the proposed method can used to evaluate the effect of different factors on the behavior of EPS geofoam.