Selection of sustainable materials for lightweight concrete

Abstract

Floating buildings are a recognised flood adaptation strategy around the world, and lightweight concrete (LWC) containing expanded polystyrene (EPS) beads is seen as a particularly suitable construction material. However, it is important to use sustainability criteria when specifying such concrete. This study of a floating house project in Malaysia aims to select the best cementitious material from pozzolanic waste and by-products to improve the sustainability performance of LWC with EPS. Content analysis was used to define critical indicators and a modified fuzzy preference selection index method was improved and used as a decision-making tool to investigate the performance of different cementitious materials (silica fume, fly ash and palm oil fuel ash) under both qualitative and quantitative criteria. Experimental tests and interviews were conducted to investigate the effects of different pozzolans in LWC with regards to sustainability.