BUILDING ON EPS GEOFOAM IN THE 'LOW-LANDS'. EXPERIENCES IN THE NETHERLANDS

Large parts of the Netherlands, especially those in the original delta areas of our 'low-lands', have a subsoil with poor load-bearing capacity, caused by waterlogged peat and clay. Civil engineering projects can only be executed after a proper treatment of the soil to improve its stability and/or reduce the load of the construction. Since the early 70's, civil engineers have successfully experimented with the latter option using ultra lightweight products based upon expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam material. The growth in its use has been supported by practical and fundamental studies from research institutes, such as Stichting Bouwresearch (SBR) and the Delft University of Technology (DUT). These studies involved product properties and performance under static and dynamic conditions and sophisticated finite element analyses of temperature distributions and stress-strain predictions in the various pavement layers. The calculated or predicted values have been validated in laboratory experiments and/or actual instrumented road pavements. Design and construction guidelines have been established together with quality criteria for the EPS geofoam products. In the past 10 years more than 400,000 cu. m EPS geofoam has been used in civil engineering practice in the Netherlands. The current annual rate of consumption is around 50-100,000 cu. m. The growing confidence in this civil engineering material through theoretical and practical experience, not only in the Netherlands but also world-wide, will provide opportunities beyond those applications illustrated in the case studies. For the covering abstract see ITRD E109968.