Mechanical performance of traditional lightweight concretes from the canary islands

Abstract

In the Canary Islands, due to their volcanic origin, clay cannot be found, and therefore, in building construction, vibrated concrete blocks are used, which include Picón (pyroclastics, tephra)-whose scientific name is LAPILLI-among their components. To improve the qualities of these blocks, as required in the Technical Building Code (CTE in Spanish acronym)different percentages of treated expanded polystyrene (EPS)were added to the concrete mixture from which the blocks are made. In the study regarding mechanical behavior and water vapor transmission properties, the following results were obtained: Weight decrease of the test pieces: they turned out to be 32.82% lighter. Flexural strength decreased to 78.79%. Compressive strength diminished up to 85.85%. Regarding water vapor resistance, test pieces resulted 63.57% more resistant.