Frost heave mitigation by incorporating expanded polystyrene bead into earth fill

Abstract

This study proposed an anti-frost geomaterial, comprising waste foundry sand (WFS), fly ash (FA), expanded polystyrene (EPS) beads, Portland cement and water, which is known as WFS-FA-EPS mixture. Twenty series of mixtures were prepared and investigated with regards to the effect of mixture component on the frost heave mitigation of the material. A freeze chamber was set up to impose frost action onto the mixtures. Results indicate that WFS-FA-EPS mixture is able to mitigate or eliminate frost heave if the mixture is properly designated. Compared with common earth fills, the mixture presents high micro-porosity, small frost heave, and low thermal conductivity. The frost heave mitigation of the mixture mainly depends on the volumetrically buffering capacity of EPS beads and cohesion force by cement content.