|
Abstract A series of triaxial tests were carried out to investigate the influence law of expanded polystyrene size(EPS) on strength characteristics of light-weight sand(4 kinds of EPS sizes in range of 2–6 mm)，cement mass ratio is 13% and 20%，EPS volume ratio is 1.8). Results show that the light-weight sand is a kind of structural soil，nonlinearity，multi-stage，strain hardening and strain softening are the properties of its stress-strain relation curves. Broken line and straight line are the two different types of Mohr failure envelope，which depends on the structural strength and consolidation pressure. Deformation modulus and compressive strength are adjustable，both growing with the increase of cement mixed ratio. For a certain mixed ratio，with the increase of EPS size，deformation modulus decreases linearly and compressive strength decreases exponentially. Cohesive strength and internal frictional angle decrease with the increase of EPS size，but the reduction of internal frictional angle is smaller. The cement mixed ratio has a big influence on the cohesive strength and little influence on the internal frictional angle. The reduction rate of unit price is far more greater than that of strength，with the increase of EPS size from 2 to 5 mm，but the advantage is not obvious when the EPS size continues to grow. The difficulty of sample preparation is highly increased when the EPS particle sizes are 5–6 mm. Take all factors into consideration，4–5 mm particle sizes of EPS are recommended in practical engineering.
|
|
Received: 18 June 2012
|
|
|
|
2013, Vol. 32 
