The influence of OPC and PPC on compressive strength of ALWA concrete

Lightweight concrete is one of the options used in construction in lieu of the traditional normal-weight concrete. Due to its lightweight, it provides lighter structural members and thus, it reduces the total weight of the structures. The reduction in weight resulting in the reduction of the seismic forces since its density is less than 1840 kg/m3. Among all of the concrete constituents, coarse aggregate takes the highest portion of the concrete composition. To produce the lightweight characteristics, it requires innovation on the coarse aggregate to come up with low density of concrete. One possible way is to introduce the use of the artificial lightweight aggregate (ALWA). This study proposes the use of polystyrene as the main ingredient to form the ALWA. The ALWA concrete in the study also used two types of Portland cements, i.e. OPC and PPC. The ALWA introduced in the concrete comprises various percentages, namely 0%, 15%, 50%, and 100% replacement to the coarse aggregate by volume. From the results of the study, it can be found that the compressive strength and the modulus of elasticity of concrete decreased with the increase of the percentage of the ALWA used to replace the natural coarse aggregate.