NA-00  Triaxial Test on Geofoam

EPS geofoam blocks are used as soil substitute in many geotechnical applications. The properties of EPS geofoam blocks are compared with the soil properties through many conventional tests that are performed on soils. Triaxial compression tests were carried out on cylindrical EPS blocks of different densities at different confining pressures. The duration of confinement is also varied to investigate changes in strength due to the confining duration. Cylindrical samples of diameter 3 inch and height 6 inch with densities 16 and 26 kg/m3 were tested. In each case the samples were tested with confining pressure ranging from 0 to 100 kPa with confining duration ranging from 0 to 24 hours. The results show that the compressive strength of EPS geofoam reduces with the confining pressure. The effect of confining duration becomes insignificant at lower confining pressures. The results also show that the initial modulus of EPS geofoam reduces with increasing confining pressure and that the post yield modulus slightly increases with the confining pressure.