Characterizing, Testing, and Modeling the Mechanical Properties of Recycled-Content Expanded Polystyrene-Block Geofoam

Non-recycled expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam has been widely used in civil engineering applications such as lightweight fill in embankments over soft ground and in slope stabilization and repair. However, widespread use of recycled-content EPS is limited because no material behavior information of the key mechanical properties required to design recycled-content EPS blocks in available. The overall goal of the research is to evaluate the stress-strain and stress-strain-time material behavior of recycled-content EPS blocks and to develop empirical relationships that will allow engineers to perform structural response evaluations for various potential applications of recycled-content EPS in civil engineering such as roadway embankments, slope stabilization and repair, and levees. The dissertation presents the results of unconfined compression, flexure, and creep tests performed on recycled-content EPS with various percentage of recycled content and densities. Empirical relationships were also developed for predicting the compressive resistance, flexural strength and creep strain by performing regression analysis on the test results. This research is the first research on mechanical behavior of recycled-content EPS for use in civil engineering applications and begins to contribute to filling the knowledge gap of information on the mechanical behavior of recycled-content EPS. The stress-strain and stress-strain-time material behavior data of recycled-content EPS and the proposed empirical models of compressive and flexural strength developed during this study can begin to allow engineers to perform structural response evaluations for various potential applications of recycled-content EPS in civil engineering such as roadway embankments, slope stabilization and repair, and levees