Properties of High Performance Lightweight Concrete Sandwich panels using local additives

Abstract EN

The main aim of this investigation is to produce high performance lightweight concrete sandwich panels consisting of two layers of mortar having different mesh reinforcement and feeded polystyrene concrete core in between.

Locally pozzolanic material (ultra – fine feldspar) is used to produce the high performance mortar as partial replacement of cement.

The effect of various factors such as core thickness, volume fraction and type of reinforcement (polyimide grids, polypropylene meshes and chicken wire meshes) has been investigated.

The work covers the physical properties of the mortar and polystyrene concrete core.

Also the structural properties and behaviour of eight series of 1000mm length and 200mm width concrete sandwich panels with two reinforced mortar faces of 20mm in thickness and core of 30 and 50mm in thickness from polystyrene concrete were investigated by nondestructive and destructive methods.

The nondestructive tests included the density and dynamic modulus for mortar and polystyrene concrete.

Also the density and dynamic properties of the concrete sandwich panels as a whole (dynamic modulus of elasticity, Poisson’s ratio and stiffness constant) were determined by ultrasonic pulse velocity.

Flexural properties such as, first crack and ultimate loads, moment capacity, modulus of rupture, resilience, ductility and toughness of the concrete sandwich panels were investigated from the destructive tests .

The results show that the ultimate moment increases as the core thickness and the volume fraction of different types of reinforcement increase and the modulus of rupture increases as volume fraction of reinforcement increase.

Also it was shown that concrete sandwich panels with high toughness and ductility can be obtained by using polyimide grids or polypropylene meshes to reinforce the compression and tension faces of the panels.